Beck Rally Splits MLK's Family
Byron Tau reports on how Glenn Beck's "restoring honor" rally has split the family of Martin Luther King, Jr.
WASHINGTON (Aug 28) -- A day of activism and protest in the nation's capital today featured two prominent members of the King family laying very different claims on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.
Addressing a massive crowd gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, King's niece, Dr. Alveda King, tied the civil rights icon's legacy to the themes of honor, patriotism, service and faith that were highlighted at the gathering.
"Today, we are here to honor special men and women, who like my uncle Martin are blessed with servants' hearts," she said. "Though they gave their service in ways very different from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., like him they are people who are not afraid to give their lives for the freedom of others. If uncle Martin could be here today, he would surely commend them."
Beck chose to hold his rally on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream Speech," in the same spot on the National Mall where King and other civil rights leaders made an impassioned plea for equal rights in 1963. The rally showcased Sarah Palin and a diverse cast of speakers and honorees on stage, including a number of African-American pastors and entertainers. But Politics Daily notes that the large crowd was mostly white.
Martin Luther King III, King's son, participated in a counter-rally organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton dubbed "Reclaiming the Dream." King delivered a rebuke to the free market policies embraced by conservatives like Beck and Palin, reminding the crowd that his father's final years were spent fighting for economic justice."This is not about a left side or a right side," King said. "This is about God's side in terms of doing what's right for all of America. That's what Martin Luther King's dream is about.
"We have made great strides. We have made strides in race relations. But we still have not made enough strides around economics," he said. "Everybody in this nation of vast wealth can have a decent job. Everybody in this nation of vast wealth can have a decent home. Everybody in this nation should have the best education possible. Everybody should have decent health care. Everybody in the Unites States should be able to have justice."
At Beck's rally, Alveda King connected her uncle's hope with the conservative commentator's call to help restore traditional American values: "Forty-seven years ago, uncle Martin compared our nation's promise of equal protection to a check marked 'insufficient funds.' Today, in more than one sense, America is nearly bankrupt," she said.
"Yet we are not without hope. Faith, hope and love are not dead in America," she said. "We put our trust in God."
A few scattered protesters unfurled a sign along D.C.'s Independence Avenue that proclaimed King was a "Dream" while Beck was a "Nightmare."
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