John Nichols: Sorry Glenn Beck, But King's "Dream" is on the March in Detroit

[marmar]

from The Nation:



Sorry Glenn Beck, But King's "Dream" is on the March in Detroit

John Nichols
August 28, 2010


Too bad about Glenn Beck.

Fox TV's silliest self-promoter thought he had come up with a sure-fire way to claim a piece of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr's legacy. Beck reserved the Lincoln Memorial on the day of the 47th anniversary of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Then he called his minions to Washington for the supposed purpose of "reclaiming the civil rights movement."

Reclaim it from who? Why, the people who forged the civil rights movement, of course.

Beck's purpose was to rewrite history so that the social and economic justice messages of the movement are obscured and America is left with nothing but a few rhetorical flourishes and a hazy memory of the struggles that were. And he had some luck getting the echo-chamber media to go along with the stunt.

But anyone who was paying attention Saturday knew that the continuation of the 1963 "March on Washington for Jobs and Justice" -- which was called by the great socialist labor leader A. Philip Randolph and organzied by another socialist, Bayard Rustin; both close allies of King, whose explicit focus on economic and social justice stood in stark contrast to Beck's preachments -- was not the slick, right-wing spin dominated event in Washington.

It was the serious, issue-oriented march organized by the United Auto Workers union, a key supporter of the 1963 march, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a former aide to King. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blog/154205/sorry-glenn-beck-kings-dream-march-detroit

[marmar]

1. Shameless selfkick for justice.....

:kick: