Joseph Williams, Boston Globe
- The Democratic National Convention this week delivered some prime speaking spots to an expanding roster of rising African-American political stars, among them Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, but this year’s speaking schedule is also notable for its absences: Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and other older leaders of the civil rights movement.
Unlike in past conventions, Jackson – who was with Martin Luther King Jr. the day he was killed and who sought the party’s nomination in 1984 and 1988 – has been on the sidelines. Sharpton, who honed his power marching in the streets and who gave a rousing speech at the 2004 convention, has been reduced to the role of an extra. And longtime Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a minister who was beaten by police as he marched with King in Selma in the 1960s, appeared only in a video tribute to Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
