A rally at the Lincoln Memorial started a few minutes ago. It is called the Restoring Honor Rally, and is hosted by Glenn Beck and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
At the beginning Glenn reminded us that at the cap of the Washington Monument is engraved “Laus Deo” – Praise be to God. He referred to this rally as the day our nation turns back to God. The rally is also being used as a fundraiser for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
Today is August 28, 2010. Forty-seven years ago today, Martin Luther King, Jr., stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave his I Have a Dream speech. Because of this anniversary, there are those in the African American community who are decrying the Restoring Honor rally. From what I can gather, Al Sharpton and his crew are upset because Glenn Beck is white and this is defiling Dr. King’s dream for this country. Seems that the real problem is that Glenn turned in his application to the National Park Service to hold an event before anyone else did.
Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Glenn Beck – none of them own the Lincoln Memorial. We all own it. All of us who are citizens of the United States of America own the Lincoln Memorial. How great it would have been for Al Sharpton to stand shoulder to shoulder with Glenn Beck today at the Lincoln Memorial … wouldn’t that have been what Dr. King wanted?
“This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – August 28, 1963
Unfortunately Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and other African American leaders are more in line with Ray Nagin than Dr. King. You remember Nagin, the former mayor of New Orleans and his famous “Chocolate City” speech:
“We ask black people: it’s time. It’s time for us to come together. It’s time for us to rebuild a New Orleans, the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. And I don’t care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day”.
Ray Nagin, January 2006
It seems the only freedom some are interested in is being free of white people and most definitely being free of white people who are Evangelical Christians.
What was it Dr. King said … that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
As I am watching the rally at the Lincoln Memorial this morning, it is one of patriotism, a day of honoring those who serve in our military and a day of challenging us to return to God and to the premises that built our country. Personally, I would have loved to have seen Al Sharpton standing arm-in-arm with Glenn Beck this morning. I think Dr. King would have liked that as well. What a missed opportunity.
OneMom
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Great Post!
How right you are, Kerry. If only they could see that opportunity and act on it in a positive way, maybe our country could see it’s way out of the turmoil it is in today.
Great post, Kerry.
Hi Larry – it wouldn’t solve all the problems, but if Sharpton and Jackson (Jesse) had joined with Glenn, it would have been a start. I’m watching on C-Span, and listening to Dr. Alveda King speak – she is truly practicing what her uncle preached.
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I’m with Lee and Jackson. Nice Job.
Hi Vince – thanks. How are things in your part of the world?
H O T. But, we just saw our first break in the heat – highs down to the low 90′s. But actually it’s been great.
And, our daughter, Katie, continues her recovery from her eye injury. She has clearly been blessed. She will never have perfect vision in that eye again. We will be tickled with 20/40 when we test next week. We were close to that when we tested about 3 months ago.
But, the blessing, she has never complained about wearing a rigid contact or the patching 6 hours per day. I had her brother and sister patch one day when I felt we needed an empathy lesson. They could only make it only an hour with sour faces and belly aching. Katie was merciful and let them off the hook. I made it for two.
I would say it’s been hot here as well, but it would never compare to your version of hot.
So glad to hear about Katie – have continued to pray for her. 20/40 would be fantastic!
What I found puzzling is that there’s nothing racist in Glenn Beck’s message (or at least what I’ve been able to figure out)…it’s not against the speech that was also on this day.
But really, according to them, once your cause has a gathering on a particular date at a particular location, you now own it. So if this rally had been held today, an anti-war demonstration could not be held there August 30, 2011 (or any other August 30th) because it would be against the message that was declared today. (And of course, those two messages would ACTUALLY be opposed to one another.)
Umm, okay.
Ronnica – I think that’s an accurate summary of the situation. I don’t believe it’s anchored in logic.
If Al Sharpton had marched his bunch to the Beck area I’m sure Glen would have welcomed them with open arms. It would have been a joyous and inspirational moment and might have made a gigantic difference. That would absolutely never happen. The Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons of this nation have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, victimization. ‘They’ are all victims and ‘we’ are all oppressors. If people refused to be divided and all strted working together….. why, that would just ruin everything wouldn’t it? Becks message IS MLK’s message. Als was sheer hatred. I never saw such a pissed look on anyones face as Sharptons.