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Rev. Al Sharpton Thinks Glenn Beck's Rally Goes Against MLK
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 27, 2010
Modified Aug 27, 2010
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Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 27, 2010
Modified Aug 27, 2010
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With conservative radio and Fox News personality Glenn Beck set to hold his "Restoring Honor" rally in D.C. tomorrow, featuring former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and throngs of Tea Party masses (who need to be warned about the Beltway's dangerous areas/subways), the Rev. Al Sharpton is holding a rally of his own tomorrow as well. In an interview with CBS News, Sharpton questioned Beck's motives (and Beck's claims that he is recapturing the civil rights movement), "When Dr. King and others came here in '63 to ask the government to protect the civil rights of people and the economic rights of people, they came to ask government to protect them from local states that were robbing them of economic and civil rights...Glenn Beck is coming here to ask government to leave us alone, so he's trying to reverse what King did and there are those of us who are not going to allow that to happen."
Shaprton also said, "They're saying 'we're talking about the honor of America,' they're saying 'we're talking about restoring dignity,' there is nothing more dignified than our country coming together and making sure that everyone has equal opportunity. "That's not communism, that's really what this country is supposed to stand for and what Dr. King gave his life for," adding, "When government stayed out of people's lives women and blacks couldn't vote. When government stayed out of people's lives we were in the back of the bus. We need government to do what Dr. King came and asked government to do in '63 and we need government to do that now... When you start saying you're going to reclaim the civil rights movement that's not even coded, that's a blatant attempt the highjack a movement that changed America."
In another interview, Sharpton emphasized that Beck's group has "the right to rally. But what they don't have the right to do is distort what Dr. King's dream was about." Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech forty-seven years ago tomorrow;
Tagged
civil rights movement
glenn beck
I have a dream
martin luther king
Rev. Al Shaprton
tea party
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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