Not Relevant? Sharpton Scoffs At The Idea

Even by his own frenetic standards, the Rev. Al Sharpton has had a busy 12 months.

Late last year was the police shooting in Queens of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man leaving a bachelor party, and Sharpton organized the protests. There was the spring controversy over racially insensitive remarks by shock jock Don Imus, with Sharpton leading the calls for Imus's firing.

Sharpton put together a march in Jena, La., in support of six black teenagers jailed in the beating of a white student, and he held a protest rally outside the Justice Department in Washington to demand more prosecution of hate crimes.

And now, he is being wooed by the leading Democratic presidential candidates, all of whom seek his endorsement. "I think this has been a banner year, to say the least," said Sharpton, smiling contentedly over coffee. "This year proved the real revival of civil rights activism."

For Sharpton, the hyperkinetic pace of his past year and the pleas for support from presidential aspirants provide the answer to the question some are posing: How does Al Sharpton remain relevant in a Barack Obama world?

Read more: The Washington Post