Glenn Beck and his Disingenuous Rally
Let me be clear from the onset. I do not believe that the Tea Party is intrinsically racist. Nor do I believe that Glenn Beck is intrinsically racist. But I do believe that there are elements of the Tea Party and elements of things Glenn Beck has said in the past that could lead one down the path to assume that both are racist.
With that said I have a problem with Glenn Beck's rally in Washington DC today. I fully support his right to have a rally and march, much in the same way that I would support any organization wanting to do the same. I have supported the Nation of Islam's Million Man March and have even supported the rights of KKK members to hold rallies as well. But what concerns me the most is the clear co-opting and usage of Martin Luther King Jr. as a central image in Glen Beck's rally today. The reason I feel that the use of King is in poor taste is because much of what the rally claims to be simply is a perversion of everything King stood for.
Glenn Beck stated that it was merely coincidental that his march fell on the anniversary of King's famous I Have A Dream Speech. He then took this point further by saying that since it was a coincidence that maybe it was divine powers that aligned the event and the symbolic day together. Are you serious? Glenn Beck claims to be a historian and to his credit is very well versed in dates and history. There is no way that one can believe that he was unaware of the significance of August 28. Furthermore do not forget that August 28 holds significance to the current president as well since August 28,2008 on the 45th anniversary of MLK's speech he officially became the Democratic nominee for President and delivered his acceptance speech to a crowd of close to 100,000 in Denver. I am 100% positive that Beck knew of this. Denying that he was unaware of any of this history seems short-sighted at best and down right lying at most.
My bigger problem with the rally is that it perverts what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for. MLK never would have supported the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan as is proven by his increasingly outspoken views on Vietnam before he died. While he probably would have supported the troops and wanted to see them come home, his view on war in general would have been much less enthusiastic than Beck and his supporters want to portray. Furthermore much of what King believed in was creating a diverse America whereby people of all races could live in an equal society. There has been nothing in Glen Beck's past that seeks to unify people of different ethnicities. Remember this is the same man that stated on television that he believes that President Barack Obama, who is himself half-white, has racist views toward white people. King himself must have rolled over in his grave upon hearing not only this blasphemy, but the blasphemy that today's rally claimed to represent.
I spent some time looking at footage from today's rally and the March on Washington in 1963. Above anything what seemed to stand out was how different the crowds looked. Today barely a person of color could be seen amongst the crowd. In 1963 while the vast majority of the crowd was black there was a sizable white population as well. This to me clearly shows that Beck is not fooling anyone when he claims that he as well as the Tea Party are not racist. While the movement itself may not be, the elements that are in it definitely are. If that wasn't the case then people of all colors in sizable numbers would stand out publicly and privately in support of it. Frankly that has not been the case.
I have no issue with Beck holding his rally. But all it seems to show is his disgustingly tacky, potentially racist, and perverted way of looking at not only this country's present and past but ultimately the future of what he wants America to look like. If only Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive to see what was going on....
With that said I have a problem with Glenn Beck's rally in Washington DC today. I fully support his right to have a rally and march, much in the same way that I would support any organization wanting to do the same. I have supported the Nation of Islam's Million Man March and have even supported the rights of KKK members to hold rallies as well. But what concerns me the most is the clear co-opting and usage of Martin Luther King Jr. as a central image in Glen Beck's rally today. The reason I feel that the use of King is in poor taste is because much of what the rally claims to be simply is a perversion of everything King stood for.
Glenn Beck stated that it was merely coincidental that his march fell on the anniversary of King's famous I Have A Dream Speech. He then took this point further by saying that since it was a coincidence that maybe it was divine powers that aligned the event and the symbolic day together. Are you serious? Glenn Beck claims to be a historian and to his credit is very well versed in dates and history. There is no way that one can believe that he was unaware of the significance of August 28. Furthermore do not forget that August 28 holds significance to the current president as well since August 28,2008 on the 45th anniversary of MLK's speech he officially became the Democratic nominee for President and delivered his acceptance speech to a crowd of close to 100,000 in Denver. I am 100% positive that Beck knew of this. Denying that he was unaware of any of this history seems short-sighted at best and down right lying at most.
My bigger problem with the rally is that it perverts what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for. MLK never would have supported the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan as is proven by his increasingly outspoken views on Vietnam before he died. While he probably would have supported the troops and wanted to see them come home, his view on war in general would have been much less enthusiastic than Beck and his supporters want to portray. Furthermore much of what King believed in was creating a diverse America whereby people of all races could live in an equal society. There has been nothing in Glen Beck's past that seeks to unify people of different ethnicities. Remember this is the same man that stated on television that he believes that President Barack Obama, who is himself half-white, has racist views toward white people. King himself must have rolled over in his grave upon hearing not only this blasphemy, but the blasphemy that today's rally claimed to represent.
I spent some time looking at footage from today's rally and the March on Washington in 1963. Above anything what seemed to stand out was how different the crowds looked. Today barely a person of color could be seen amongst the crowd. In 1963 while the vast majority of the crowd was black there was a sizable white population as well. This to me clearly shows that Beck is not fooling anyone when he claims that he as well as the Tea Party are not racist. While the movement itself may not be, the elements that are in it definitely are. If that wasn't the case then people of all colors in sizable numbers would stand out publicly and privately in support of it. Frankly that has not been the case.
I have no issue with Beck holding his rally. But all it seems to show is his disgustingly tacky, potentially racist, and perverted way of looking at not only this country's present and past but ultimately the future of what he wants America to look like. If only Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive to see what was going on....
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