Your request is being processed...
Al Sharpton: Glenn Beck Rally Distorts King's Dream
WASHINGTON — On the eve of conservative commentator Glenn Beck's
rally at the Lincoln Memorial, a blogger's assertion that parts of the
nation's capital should be avoided touched off accusations of racism and
a sharp response by angry city leaders.
Thousands of tea party supporters were expected at the demonstration
Saturday that Beck has called a "Restoring Honor" rally to show support
of the country's military at the site where Martin Luther King delivered
his "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago to the day.
The location and timing prompted civil rights leaders to cry foul.
"They have a right to rally. But what they don't have the right do is
distort what Dr. King's dream was about," the Rev. Al Sharpton declared
Friday. He called the tea party assembly an anti-government action and
has organized a counter rally also near the site of King's historic
speech.
With emotions already high, the work of a largely unknown tea party
blogger, Bruce Majors, brought them to a fever pitch on Friday.
The blog, which first appeared last Monday and has been widely viewed
and distributed since then, warned conservative protesters visiting the
nation's capital to avoid certain subway lines, suggesting they are
unsafe, that certain neighborhoods should be avoided, that the city is
populated by the world's refugees – that taxi drivers are often Arab or
African – and that generally visitors should be wary.
And it inspired a satirical map of Washington with all of the city
marked unsafe, except for the tiny sliver of the National Mall, home to
the Lincoln Memorial. Some people mistakenly assumed the map was put out
by Beck rally supporters.
City leaders didn't see the humor.
"Frankly, we need to put an end to that venom," said Vincent Gray, a
member of the District of Columbia Council and a candidate for mayor, at
a news conference Friday. "This is a city of 600,000 people – people
who enjoy living here, people who pay their taxes." He urged tea party
activists to ride the subway and visit the city's neighborhoods.
"People from all over the world work, live, visit and explore this
city safely every day," added Elliott Ferguson, president of the tourism
bureau Destination D.C.
Organizers of the Beck rally declined to comment on the blog post.
Majors said he offered his post as a "visitors guide" to people
planning to attend the Beck rally. In an interview Friday, Majors said
he was thinking of his mother and people like her who don't live in
cities when he wrote the post. He never expected it to draw much
attention.
The posting offered hints on cheap eats, free wireless Internet spots
– and the home addresses of Democratic political leaders, with the note
"Feel free to protest!" And he urged visitors to avoid certain subway
lines and stay in more affluent parts of the city.
A real estate agent who has lived in Washington since 1980, Majors said it was not intended as racist.
In fact, some of the neighborhoods that Majors suggested as dangerous
– areas targeted by race riots more than 40 years ago – have undergone a
revitalization and today sport new stores, restaurants, a diversity of
residents and a thriving nightlife.
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said on MSNBC this week that the blog post was fear-mongering.
"This is obviously scaring white people," Robinson said. "What they
have done is essentially try to put off-limits any parts of the city
where these main tea partiers believe you might be able to encounter,
dare I say, black people."
Sharpton described the demonstration planned for Saturday by Beck and
his supporters as an anti-government rally advocating states' rights.
And he said that goes against the message in King's famous "I Have a
Dream" speech, in which the civil rights leader appealed to the federal
government to ensure equality.
Beck and other organizers say the aim is to pay tribute to America's
military personnel and others "who embody our nation's founding
principles of integrity, truth and honor." The broadcaster toured the
site Friday as supporters cheered
No comments:
Post a Comment