King's Dream Endures-by: Eugene Robinson

[kpete]

King's Dream Endures

Friday 27 August 2010

by: Eugene Robinson, Op-Ed

Washington - The majestic grounds of the Lincoln Memorial belong to all Americans -- even to egomaniacal talk-show hosts who profit handsomely from stoking fear, resentment and anger. So let me state clearly that Glenn Beck has every right to hold his absurdly titled "Restoring Honor" rally on Saturday.

But the rest of us have every right to call the event what it is: an exercise in self-aggrandizement on a Napoleonic scale. I half expect Beck to appear before the crowd in a bicorn hat, with one hand tucked into the front of his jacket.

That Beck is staging his all-about-me event at the very spot where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his immortal "I Have a Dream" speech -- and on the 47th anniversary of that historic address -- is obviously intended to be a provocation. There's no need to feel provoked, however; the appropriate response is to ignore him. No puffed-up huckster could ever diminish the importance of the 1963 March on Washington or the impact of King's unforgettable words.

Lincoln and King will always have their places in American history. Beck's 15 minutes of fame and influence are ticking by.

more:
http://www.truth-out.org/eugene-robinson-kings-dream-endures62710