The Beckoning - What Dream are they Restoring?

For month’s conservative radio host and Fox News commentator Glenn Beck has preached about this divine providence, which he calls a “Restoring Honor Rally”. I suppose he heard the thunder roar and the lightning flash just before God spoke to him, like Mosses, giving the message to reclaim Civil Rights. He claims the date was not chosen intentionally for the rally to take place on the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Much like the Pied Piper he will lead his flock to this hollowed site for them to witness a miracle while delivering this message to the cult. Maybe we will see him part the waters of the reflecting pool down on the Mall or turn the water red. Naturally, all the leaders of the right-wing agenda will be on hand including many of the modern-day Citizens Council member’s known as the Tea Party, who will be the receivers of this message. Then, the flock will go forth and spread God’s word, given to Beck, like Johnny Appleseed to further their goal of taking back their country.

The “Restoring Honor Rally” message, they say, is intended to “celebrate America by honoring our heroes,” according to the event’s website. I can’t profess to know who their heroes are but from the bigotry of their ideology its possible they might wear robe’s. They also say with respect to the Tea Party, their most vocal supporters, claim the movement is not a political party. They say, it is a set of ideas, which include government not spending more money than it takes in, people are taxed enough already, and the government needs to be reminded to act within the limits of the Constitution.

The rally, they say, is intended to deliver a message that character, patriotism and honor are qualities that have distinguished the American people from the inception of our country. What is extremist about that? Nothing! However, they, Beck in particular have called the President a racist and say’s he hates white people. Less they forget he was raised by white people and is half white. They have also compared the President to and call him a Nazi.

So let me state clearly that Glenn Beck and the others have every right to hold this absurdly titled "Restoring Honor" rally on the majestic grounds of the Lincoln Memorial that belong to all Americans. At the same time, reasonable people of tolerance and inclusion, the rest of us, have every right to call the event exactly what it is: an exercise in self-aggrandizement on a scale that I would compared to the thousands of Klan members parading down Pennsylvania Avenue that day Aug. 18, 1925.

As the growth of the Tea Party movement clearly demonstrates, millions of Americans feel alienated from their government, distressed about the economy and frightened of the future. Therefore, it is safe to assume that some people will attend this rally because of a sense of racial grievance and an urge for some kind of payback. This is where it becomes dangerous because this country has a horrifying history of people who take such messages and do horrible things in the name of ideology. I am reminded of McVeigh, Oswald, and of course James Earl Ray.

The most offensive thing about the rally is the blatant suggestion that the event will "reclaim the civil rights movement" making the false assertion that the struggle for civil rights was about winning "equal justice," not "social justice" and had no economic component to it. It appears that the participants are saying that white American’s are suffering from the ills that were inflicted upon poor people, and African American in particular for century’s, which could not be further from the truth. This version of history is flat wrong and if they can recall people of this ideology was on the wrong side - then and appear to be now.

From the beginning, King's activism and leadership were aimed at securing not just equal justice but equal opportunity as well. When he was assassinated in 1968, King was in the midst of a Poor People's Campaign aimed at bettering the economic condition of all underprivileged Americans, regardless of race. Therefore, this attempt to rewrite the history of Civil Rights is shameful at best and disrespectful at its worst because it is simply to seek a repeal of Civil Rights, reintroduce literacy tests, and an attempt to resurrect the “Ghost of Jim Crow”.

I am old enough to have known Jim Crow and what I see contained within the message is eerily similar to that which I witnessed during what they call the proud era of segregation. The legacy of this type of thinking can be directly related to and stoked by fear mainly, I believe, because of the hue of our president. This ideology is rooted in everyone other than those of a certain hue’s ideology of supremacy to which derives from Manifest Destiny, which I believe is what they mean when the say “We want our country back”.

A few days ago, Beck said “Whites don’t own Abraham Lincoln” and “Blacks don’t own Martin Luther King.” “Those are American icons, American ideas, and we should just talk about character, and that’s really what this event is about. It’s about honoring character.” Lincoln and King will always have their places in American history for the significant achievements and ultimate sacrifices they made particularly for African America, Blacks, and Slaves. I do differ from that statement because African Americans do own the legacy of Dr. King. I hope this guy does not appear before the crowd in a bicorn hat, with one hand tucked into the front of his jacket as he presents his skewed message.

When the show is over and you watch the footage of news coverage, take notice to the crowd and notice the complexion of its makeup. Lastly, the one promoted Black, a relative of Dr. King, is a convenient pawn in this diabolical scheme to which I say, although her right, it does not demonstrate the content of her character, as it relates to the reality of this groups agenda.

When it is all said and done, and the day is over, the Lincoln Memorial will still be the place where Dr. King gave the most memorable speech of all time. Those who came will still be searching for answers, will not have seen a miracle, and the host will still be a legend in his own mind.



The John T. Wills Chronicles