Filed under: News, Politics, President Obama, Race and Civil Rights
Fox News host Glenn Beck held his march on Washington Saturday, with the theme of "restoring honor" to America. The crowd was predominantly white and mostly conservative. Tea Party members were all about, and Beck found Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to be a reliable stage prop for what some might consider a political circus.
Sarah Palin spoke at the rally, along with Alveda King, the niece of Dr. King. Rev. Al Sharpton held a counter rally nearby and marched with a group of protesters for the three miles to a spot where a monument is planned for the slain civil rights leader. Rev. Sharpton reminded the group listening to him that we should not "mistake progress for arrival" and made the accurate assessment that those in Beck's party would have considered Dr. King's organizers to be troublemakers.
First, I should say that Beck's claim that he is attempting to restore honor to America is both odd and disingenuous. Restoring honor means that somehow you feel that honor has been lost. I am highly suspicious that Beck's constituents believe that most of America's honor was lost when our nation got its first black president. I am not sure if Dr. King would be comfortable with that message.
Also, one would presume that if Beck and Palin are truly celebrating the values of Dr. King, they would advocate for the issues that King stood for, such as fighting poverty, improving public schools, increasing workers' wages and putting an end to senseless wars. Beck and Palin stand for almost none of that.
The only thing Beck has in common with Dr. King is that they were both protesting the government. The difference is that King protested the government's excessive commitments to white America, while Beck is now protesting the government's reduced commitment to white entitlement. If John McCain or Hillary Clinton were in the White House, neither Beck nor Palin would feel the need to protest with such deliberate and racially agitated overtones.
Speaking of agitation, I would argue that this is part of Beck's job description. With the smirk on his chubby face, he sits with his producers each day to find something racially divisive to say, in large part because he knows that people of color see him (and others like him) to be oppressive figures to which they must remain quite sensitive. I've decided that Beck is effectively an entertainer, and to treat him as anything other than that is counterproductive. By giving him all of our attention, we are only throwing grease on to a grease fire.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.