Glenn Beck says it’s just a coincidence his Restoring Honour rally on Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial will take place on the anniversary and at the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Civil-rights veterans are skeptical.
“This is going to be a moment that you’ll never be able to paint people as haters, racists, none of it,” Mr. Beck says of the event featuring Sarah Palin and other conservative political and cultural figures. “This is a moment, quite honestly, that I think we reclaim the civil-rights movement.”
“When we heard about Glenn Beck, it was puzzling,” the Rev. Al Sharpton said. “Because if you read Dr. King’s speech, it just doesn’t gel with what Mr. Beck or Mrs. Palin are representing.”
Mr. Beck, a popular figure among Tea Party activists and a polarizing Fox News Channel personality, is headlining the event, and Ms. Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee and a potential 2012 presidential candidate, will be a prominent speaker. But Mr. Beck told his television audience again on Thursday that it’s not about politics.
The event’s website says the rally is to pay tribute to America’s military personnel and others “who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honour.” It also is to promote the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships and services to family members of military members.
The website urges citizens to attend and “help us restore the values that founded this great nation.”
The rally, on the 47th anniversary of Dr. King’s plea for racial equality, is drawing a strong reaction – and several counter-rallies – as the nation looks toward November’s elections.
Mr. Beck is known for his strong opinions, including his statement that President Barack Obama is a racist (he said he was “sorry the way it was phrased.”) But organizers of the rally are telling attendees not to bring signs, “as they may deter from the peaceful message we are bringing to Washington.”
Signs at some Tea Party events have included pictures of Mr. Obama embellished with a Hitler-style mustache, racial epithets and threats to Democratic officials. Such posters have given Tea Party critics grounds to claim the loose organization of activists is motivated by racism against the nation’s first black president.
“Dr. King never had to ask anyone to leave their signs and guns at home,” said Benjamin Todd Jealous, president of the NAACP. “To say to your followers, don’t bring your signs – it’s like saying don’t open your mouth.”
In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Martin Luther King III said of Mr. Beck’s event that it’s “commendable that this rally will honour the brave men and women of our armed forces who serve our country with phenomenal dedication.” But he also said it was clear the organizers were invoking his father’s work.
“My father championed free speech. He would be the first to say that those participating in Beck’s rally have the right to express their views,” Mr. King wrote. “But his dream rejected hateful rhetoric and all forms of bigotry or discrimination, whether directed at race, faith, nationality, sexual orientation or political beliefs.”
Mr. Beck repeated his assertion that he didn’t realize he was scheduling the event on the anniversary.
“I’m sorry, oh so important media, that I forgot the date,” he said in a mocking tone. “It’s not the date. It’s the message.”
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