Top U.S. civil rights leaders accuse Beck of hijacking Dr. King's legacy, plan 8/28 counter-rally
June 22, 2010 10:30 pm ET by Will Bunch
Some of the nation's top civil rights leaders are angrily accusing right-wing media star Glenn Beck of "hijacking" the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech by planning to rally his conservative forces at the same Lincoln Memorial site on the anniversary date of Aug. 28 -- and so they are planning a counter-rally and march of their own.
"Beck is hijacking the imagery and symbolism of August 28 and the Lincoln Memorial to promote an agenda of intolerance," said Marc H. Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who is now president and CEO of the National Urban League, one of the counter-rally organizers, said earlier tonight in a telephone interview.
The Morial-led Urban League is teaming with well-known activists such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network in planning a "mass rally" and march that will begin at a high school in Northeast Washington. Morial said that one of King's surviving children, Martin Luther King III, is also on board.Less than three miles away, the Fox News Channel host and former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are headlining a heavily promoted rally called "Restoring Honor."
Morial said in the phone interview that civil rights leaders believe that "Beck is deliberately trying to poke a stick in our eye, or kick sand in our faces" by holding the rally on the 47th anniversary and at the spot of King's most famous speech, at a massive rally to lobby support for what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that ended legal segregation in America.
Beck claimed earlier this month on his radio show that one of his goals is to "reclaim the civil right movement," saying that it should be about individual liberties and not social justice or supporting undocumented immigration, which he called "modern day slavery." But as Beck's popularity has risen since launching his Fox News program the same week that Barack Obama became the nation's first African-American president -- angering many with attacks linking Obama to socialism or communism and also triggering outrage with his comment that the president has "a deep-seated hatred for white people."
Sharpton couldn't be reached last night, but he was recently quoted telling the National Newspaper Publishers Association in New York that Beck is attempting to rewrite American history on King and civil rights, and that he's hoping for a large crowd to counteract the conservative talker.
"[W]e’ve been traveling all over this country because there is no way in the world that I am going to allow him to have more people there than us," Sharpton was quoted by Blackvoicenews.com. "I hope every black person in the country will help us to challenge this.Everybody’s got to be in Washington. We can’t let them hijack Dr. King’s dream.”
Morial said in the interview that Beck and some of the growing right-wing groups that support him, such as the Tea Party and the Beck-inspired 9.12 Project, want to take America back to a time before King's speech and the enactment of civil rights laws and to show a face of the nation that is not the multi-cultural country we've become in the 21st Century.
"His [Beck's] vision of America is a vision of America from yesterday and our vision is an America of tomorrow that builds on yesterday," Morial said. I asked Morial about the oft-repeated plea from Tea Party activists that "I want my country back" and he replied, "It's cold. It's not just their country -- it's our country."
According to the online report from NNPA convention in New York, the national NAACP is also on board with the Aug. 28 counter-rally and is also working with labor unions on a second march on Washington for Oct. 2. Morial said that activists want to encourage the federal government to do more in support of jobs as the national unemployment rate continues to hover near 10 percent, with jobless rates that are higher for blacks and other minorities, and also to improve public education.
The purpose of the Beck rally across town is somewhat vague. When it was first announced by Beck months ago, he suggested it would be a political rally as well as the launch of a book that he called "The Plan" that would be an 100-year blueprint for America -- but the nature of the Aug. 28 event radically changed after Beck teamed with a highly-rated charity, the Special Operations Warrior Fund, to help raise some of the $2 million he says is needed to stage a rally at the Lincoln Memorial (Beck says he is donating the first $1 million himself.)
Now, the "Restoring Honor" rally is billed is as "a non-political, non-partisan event will recognize our First Amendment rights and honor the service members who fight to protect those freedoms." Beck is hoping to defray $1 million of the rally costs through an aggressive campaign seeking $1 million through the Florida-based charity, which normally fund scholarships for children of soldiers killed or wounded in action. (Beck has said any donations above the $1 million will go to the scholarships.)
In addition to Palin, Beck has said the three-hour rally will include a mini-concert by country artist Jo Dee Messina and decorated veteran Marcus Luttrell.
One thing that Aug. 28 in the nation's capital will not feature, according to Morial, is any kind of direct confrontation between his group and the Beck rally. "There's no interest on our side in a confrontation," he said, "other than a confrontation of ideas."
I mean... Beck's pretty psychotic. We already all know that. And no offense intended to any Black people, but can you imagine Glenn Beck, going on one of his typical rants, surrounded by 100's (1000's?) of like-minded biggots, waiving Obama=Hitler signs, and having THAT GROUP surrounded by 1000's, (10,000's?) angry counter protesters, on an already emotional day on what is considered by so many to be hallowed ground?
Am I really to expect that marching and yelling won't give way to pushing and shoving and that that couldn't escalate?
Only because it's BECK, who's just bats#!t crazy, I swear it seriously looks like he's trying to martyr himself. (OK, maybe not MARTYR himself, but certainly INCITE some sort of incident - one in which people WILL be hurt at a minimum.) That sounds crazy, I realize, but consdier WHO we're talking about, and WHAT he's been angling for for the past year and a half. Look at his rhetoric and style and agenda...
As perversly amusing as this all sounds - and I must admit I'll be watching it like a train-wreck - I don't see this ending well for anyone.
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That being said, I find myself rooting for Al Sharton for what may be the first time in my life.
On a side note. That other crazy libertarian at Fox (one of the many at fox), John Stossel, is having a show this week on how we would all be SAFER if more people (everyone) had guns. For all the people who subscribe to this theory, do you really think it would be a safe environment if everyone had a gune on September 19th in DC?
MLK, Ghandi, Chavez and others showed us how effective this is. Win the public, and you win the politicians. Win politicians, and things change.
Beck will call them Nazis.
In fact, the DC police have an obligation to arrest Glenn Beck.
Glenn Beck's primary purpose in having a Glenn Beck rally is to honor Glenn Beck, period. Apparently that was a little too obvious. So, for appearances' sake, he's cynically trying to disguise his rally with a token salute to the military.
But it's really all about Glenn Beck---who fancies himself worthy of taking Lincoln's place in the memorial---getting as many people as he can to worship at his feet.
Beck, We Marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, We knew Dr. Martin Luther King, Dr. Martin Luther King was a friend of ours. Senator, you're no Dr. Martin Luther King!
Count me in either in person or in spirit. Beck is a slimy narcissist to compare himself to Dr. Martin Luther King.
Living in New Canaan,CT (the hometown of Ann Coulter)and considered one of the most racially unbalanced, affluent and conservative communities in the country, Beck probably has never, ever ventured into the nearby surrounding communities of Bridgeport or Norwalk where there is high population of poor blacks. It's easy to to be a "poser" like Beck, but it takes real courage and moral leadership to include yourself amongst the likes of a great man like Dr. Martin Luther King.
Counter protests are fine, but we must use the utomost caution. This will create an atmosphere with a lot of commotion and chaos as these two events occur so close to each other with the intention of drawing large crowds. Never forget that because of people like Beck and his listeners, the mainstream media will automatically skew coverage of any altercations to favor the all-white conservative tea bagger crowd.
Remember that we're dealing with the right wing here. They will do whatever it takes to achieve their ends. Don't be surprised if they use the news of counter protests to stage disruptions using "plants", or if they send out some antagonists and provocateurs into the counter protest crowd.