Thousands of mostly African-Americans from across the country packed the Dunbar High School football field for the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, an event organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton to counter the Glenn Beck rally.
Sharpton organized the Saturday afternoon rally and march to the Martin Luther King memorial when he learned that Beck was holding a “Restoring Honor” event at the Lincoln Memorial–the same spot where King delivered his famous words.
“While they’re down there, they should ask President Lincoln why he fought so hard against states’ rights,” Sharpton said.
“Somebody said [in 1963], ‘Why are you all marching? Why are you all rallying?’ They called us troublemakers. Now the people who criticized us for marching are trying to have a march themselves,” Sharpton said.
More than 30 speakers addressed civil rights, educational opportunities, employment, and the pride of electing President Obama. Hardly anyone left the podium before drawing a red line between King’s dream and the motives of the extreme-right.
“We don’t care if they’re a member of the Tea Party, the Coffee Party, or at a cocktail party. We reclaim the dream of Martin Luther King,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League.
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton was certain Beck’s march would “change nothing.”
“But you can’t blame Glenn Beck for his march-on-Washington envy,” Norton said. “Too bad he doesn’t have a message of the place or speech.”
The Tea Party has fended off racism accusations for several months. Beyond conservative policies, critics point to “Go Back to Kenya” signs at rallies and alleged racial epiphets spewed by the Party’s supporters. The group consistently denies being racist, insisting they are persecuted as King was in 1963.
Mubaarik Sulaimaan flew in from Memphis with 100 t-shirts reading “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.” He sold them to the street-wide line stretching down N Street and wrapping around Rhode Island Avenue as songs like “Let’s Get It On” and “I Gotta Feeling” drifted from loudspeakers.
“The Glenn Beck rally is all about hatred,” Sulaimann said, an eyepatch covering his left eye. “It’s deliberate racism when you hear those key phrases like ‘take our country back.’ What are they talking about, reclaiming the dream? Reclaim from who?”
