The Restoring Honor rally was held August 28, 2010, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and was organized by Glenn Beck to "restore honor in America" and to raise funds for the non-profit Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Billed as a "celebration of America's heroes and heritage,"Glenn Beck Comes To D.C., Controversy Follows by Liz Halloran, NPR, August 27, 2010 several veterans were honored. Along with Beck, the speakers included former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and activist Alveda King, a niece of Martin Luther King Jr.Meet MLK's Glenn Beck-loving Niece: Pro-Life, Anti-Gay Alveda King talks to Salon about her Uncle, Beliefs and Planned Speech at Saturday's Big Rally interview by Daniel Denvir, Salon magazine, August 27, 2010
Beck's speech urged Americans of all religions to turn to their faith in God, "turning our face back to the values and principles that made us great". Beck's and Palin's speeches praised George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as American war veterans. Beck called for Americans to unite despite political or religious disagreements, with 240 clergy from different races and religions – belonging to the ecumenical ministerial group, the Black Robe Regiment – joining the events' speakers on stage before its closing statements.
The attendance at the rally was disputed: a scientific estimate placed the crowd size around 87,000, while media reports varied wildly from tens of thousands to 500,000. The event was held at the Lincoln Memorial, the same location, and the 47th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech, drawing criticism from African American leaders who believed the rally was clouding the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement.Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Honor' Rally Draws Tea Party Activists by Huma Khan, ABC News, August 27, 2010 Beck's Mormonism was a concern for some of his evangelical fans.
Announcement On November 21, 2009, at The Villages, Florida, Beck announced a rally to be held on August 28, 2010, in Washington, D.C., at the Lincoln Memorial. Beck originally intended the rally as political, and planned to promote his next book, The Plan, in which he would outline a century-long plan to "save the country". Over the 2009 Christmas holidays, however, Beck claimed the event would be "non-political", and focus on raising awareness and funds for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation charity, because soliciting tax-exempt funds to pay for the rally through the charity restricts political activity. The charity receives funds collected above the amount needed to pay for the rally.Glenn Beck's Decision To Scratch Plan To Promote His Book May Have Been Wise by Jason Linkins, The Huffington Post, August 27, 2010 Beck named his planned rally "Restoring Honor," saying its theme was "about honoring character" as well as honoring the sacrifices of U.S. Armed Services personnel.
Commentators noted that the planned date would be the forty-seventh anniversary of the Great March on Washington, at which, on August 28, 1963, King had accompanied an assemblage of 250,000 civil rights movement marchers from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Beck said the timing and place for his event was coincidental but appropriate, with its theme agreeing with King's "message of focusing on the content of a person's character above all else." The rally would coincide with the Reclaim the Dream commemorative march planned by Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III for further down on the National Mall and adjacent to the Tidal Basin, at the future site of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which created concern over the two groups possibly clashing.
Preparations Organizers hoped as many as 300,000 would attend, with the National Park Service preparing for 100,000 and the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency preparing for 100,000–200,000. Former governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., were announced as speakers. Expected attendees included Major League Baseball player Albert Pujols and MLB manager Tony La Russa, both of whom decided to attend after being assured by Beck that the rally would not be political. Beck broadcast his TV show from the Fox News Washington studio instead of New York in the week leading up to the event.
Pre-event criticism
March On Washington anniversary Various civil rights leaders of the black community criticized Beck leading up to the event, under the auspice that picking the anniversary of Dr. King's 1963 speech was a "deliberate way to distort King's message."Glenn Beck's Rally Panned by Civil Rights Leaders, Kicks Off Tea Party Rallies by Huma Khan, ABC News, August 20, 2010 Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, minister of the National Baptist Convention and president of Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, held a press conference to announce his opposition to Beck's rally. After referring to Beck's comment from July 2009 that President Barack Obama has "over and over again" exposed himself as "a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture", Veazey stated:
Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network called Beck's event an "outright attempt to flip the imagery of Dr. King", while accusing Beck of circumventing and distorting King's legacy. Former civil rights leader Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's non-voting representative in Congress, opined that if Beck "has any respect for the unity across racial lines that August 28 represented, he would not hold what looks to be an all-white march that cannot possibly appeal across racial lines because of how he has modeled himself on radio and television."Black Leaders Criticize Beck For Holding Rally On King Anniversary by The Wall Street Journal, August 26, 2010 In similar remarks, Washington, D.C., City Councilman Harry Thomas Jr. accused Beck of "hypocrisy at its highest degree".
Martin Luther King III, Dr. King's son and cousin of speaker Dr. Alveda King, noted that as a "champion of free speech", his father "would be the first to say that those participating in Beck's rally have the right to express their views."Still Striving for MLK's Dream in the 21st Century by Martin Luther King III, The Washington Post, August 25, 2010 However, King reminded Beck that his father's dream "rejected hateful rhetoric and all forms of bigotry or discrimination, whether directed at race, faith, nationality, sexual orientation or political beliefs". King also pointed out that his father "advocated compassion for the poor" and "wholeheartedly embraced the social gospel", noting that King's spiritual and intellectual mentors included social gospel advocates Walter Rauschenbusch and Howard Thurman.
Similarly, Rev. Jim Wallis, of the Sojourners Community, admonished Beck under the rationale that "Martin Luther King Jr. was clearly a Social Justice Christian", noting that this is "the term and people that Beck constantly derides."Martin Luther King, Jr. Was a Social Justice Christian by Jim Wallis, The Huffington Post, August 26, 2010 After pointing out that Dr. King gave a December 18, 1963 speech entitled "Social Justice and the Emerging New Age", Wallis related Dr. King's 1961 warning to the AFL–CIO that "before the victory is won, some will be misunderstood, some will be called reds and communists merely because they believe in economic justice and the brotherhood of man." According to Wallis, if Beck were "an honest man", he would thus have to brand Dr. King a "communist, socialist, (or) Marxist" in the same way that he has branded those currently who are calling for "economic and social justice".
Media reaction Leading up to the event, Beck attracted criticism from various media personalities, comedians and writers. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann stated that he was worried about Glenn Beck's sanity after Beck said that he wanted to let "the spirit" speak through him at the rally.Olbermann Worries About Glenn Beck's Sanity: 'Is He OK?' by Jack Mirkinson, The Huffington Post, August 26, 2010 The day before the rally on the same network, Chris Matthews, of Hardball With Chris Matthews, used his ending segment to announce:
Political satirists such as Comedy Central's Jon Stewart dubbed the rally "Beckapalooza" and "I Have A Scheme",Stewart RIPS Glenn Beck's Civil Rights Rally: "I Have A Scheme" by Katla McGlynn, The Huffington Post, August 27, 2010 while Stephen Colbert facetiously announced that he was ready to follow Beck in his "silver freedom spaceship that runs on human tears".Colbert: Glenn Beck's Rally Has Nothing To Do With Dr. King by Katla McGlynn, The Huffington Post, August 27, 2010 Journalist Jason Linkins was critical of what he deemed an "insanely melodramatic video promotion of the rally, replete with Goldline scamflackery", positing that the "Glenn Beck rally will be like (the) Moon landing, Wright Brothers and Rosa Parks all rolled into one massive orgasm of American history."Glenn Beck Rally Will Be Like Moon Landing, Wright Brothers, & Rosa Parks All Rolled Into One Massive Orgasm Of American History - article and video by The Huffington Post Film director and activist Robert Greenwald created a website and video entitled "Glenn Beck is Not Martin Luther King Jr.", which provided a petition featuring over 30,000 signatures the day before the rally, denouncing Beck.No, Glenn Beck Is Not a Civil Rights Icon by John Nichols, The Nation, August 28, 2010
A.J. Calhoun, who attended the original 1963 King rally, criticized Beck's holding what he called a "rally of right-wingers, Tea Partiers, neoconservatives, fascists, the delusional and the truly wicked, (and) the New Kluxers disguised as patriots wanting something they cannot or will not identify openly."Hey, Glenn Beck, I was at the March on Washington by A.J. Calhoun, Salon magazine, August 26, 2010 Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post described Beck as an "egomaniacal talk-show host who profit(s) handsomely from stoking fear, resentment and anger", while calling his "absurdly titled" rally "an exercise in self-aggrandizement on a Napoleonic scale."Even Beck can't Mar King's Legacy by Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post, August 27, 2010 Robinson, continued his Napoleon analogy by ending his column with a quip that he half-expected Beck to "appear before the crowd in a bicorne hat, with one hand tucked into the front of his jacket."
Alexander Zaitchik, author of the 2010 unauthorized Beck biography Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance, also rejected Beck's embrace of the civil rights mantle, remarking:
According to Zaitchik, the purpose of the rally was not primarily to honor heroes, but was the fulfillment of Beck's long-held dream of holding an event on the National Mall. In elaborating on his "cynical" hypothesis, Zaitchik stated "I view this through a prism of his business – he's in a very competitive media world with many distractions and this will enable him to be the topic of conversation."
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