Some thoughts on Todays Glen Beck’s Restoring Rally…
Conservative talk show host Glenn Beck tried to hijack the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King
Below are some of the tweets I shared with folks this morning about Martin Luther King and how his legacy has been allowed be hijacked and distorted with the Glenn Beck ‘Restore Our Honor’ rally that went down today in Washington DC at the Lincoln Memorial. For those who don’t know Beck decided to hold a rally on the same date and place as Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech 47 years ago in 1963.
Beck said he wasn’t trying to be political and it was pure coincidence his rally was on the anniversary of the King speech. In fact he tried to flip it and say the rally was a way for folks to honor the troops. He knew folks would ride for that cause and be less critical if he crossed the lines in other arenas. We says that’s BS. Beck knew what he was doing. He even went out and got King’s conservative niece Aleveda King to be one of the keynotes.
Below are some of the tweets I sent out this morning on the rally and what we should be thinking about.
How does King’s Legacy get distorted & hijacked by a Glenn Beck for the world to see? Ask your self that next time u turn on the radio or TV?
A steady diet of who’s beefing w/ who, who does the Dougie the best & endless conversations about Jay-Z and his possible membership within the illuminati.
Sad as it sounds Beck used his air time to give a distorted & false history of Blacks in America-Meanwhile many our urban outlets and personalities said nothing?
How many of our historians and scholars were invited on any of our outlets to give a corrective history..Better yet who was asked on to speak this week?
How many of our urban outlets used their airwaves this week to let millions of people know who Dr King was and what he meant when he gave the I have a Dream Speech? This week I heard contests for Summer Jam and Rock the Bells ticket giveaways… I didn’t hear one MLK speech.. I didn’t hear one community leader or Black historian who was invited on to these outlets to drop gems and offer guidance so folks could better understand and recognize the cultural hijacking that was taking place.
Dr King's niece Alveda sadly gave Beck and his croonies political cover in distorting her Uncle's legacy. She said she was tired of the Civil Rights Movement
Glenn Beck’s distorting rally complete w/ cheesing Negros in the form of Alveda King (Martin Luther King’s niece ) singing gospel cannot be viewed in isolation. She received a huge applause and unfortunately validated of a disturbing nationwide trend where the History for Black people and other communities of color is literally being white washed. So while Beck is re-writing the legacy of King, the state of Arizona has banned ethnic studies being taught in her universities and the state of Texas has removed everyone from Thurgood Marshall to Cesar Chavez and even the word slavery from high school text books and curriculum.
Earlier that morning Alveda King was shown on CNN saying in a earlier speech that she was ‘tired of the Civil Rights Movement‘..If for any reason, our urban outlets should’ve used those remarks as an opportunity to have public discussion-Where does the Civil Rights movement stand in 2010?…Here are some more tweets I sent out this morning.
A savvy urban outlet would’ve talked about King’s I have a Dream speech and focused on the part where he talked about America’s broken promissory notes and Insufficient funds
A historian would’ve come on the radio and reminded people that in 1963 marchers had to leave by sundown bc the police were outa control & brutal
A historian would’ve reminded folks that MLK spoke out agst wars & put his life at risk to do so-he would’ve told the troops to stop fighting
I hope we keep the lack of history and intelligent convo NOT on our airwaves come Monday morning..If ur a parent u should be upset?
Ask yourself, what did the Funk Flexes, Big Boys e of the world teach us & our kids this week during Black August? Sadly Beck taught more as false as it was..
Beck armed his listeners w/talking pts, & misleading analysis so if they were to debate some one on civil rights issues they would smash on most uninformed urbanites
In the face of Glenn Beck's lofty rhetoric and invoking of Martin Luther King and his no colorlines message, folks still showed up at the Glenn Beck Rally with racial hatred
One of the most disturbing things that Beck did at this rally was imply that King religious and philosophical beliefs would’ve been in synch with the agenda of the military industrial complex. King put his life and definitely the political favors he had obtained by speaking out on the Vietnam War which he found to be unjust. His willingness to speak out was deeply rooted in his religious upbringing which is centered in what is known as the prophetic tradition where one fearlessly speaks truth to power, stands on the side of the oppressed and fights for justice.
In fact it was interesting to hear Beck and his people quote the phrase Injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere’. King uttered those words when speaking out against the United States being in War. I find it hard to believe Dr King in 2010 would be in support of any of our wars. He might’ve shown love to the troops, but would’ve told them to stand down and not continue fighting. Here are more tweets..
MLK comes from the prophetic tradition of preaching while many white Americans come from the tradition of equating God w/ Country
What Beck did was remove King from the long line of prophetic preaching which is what liberated Black folks & put him in God & Country tradition
That’s how the king was hijacked by Beck and sadly he found a family member Alveda King to validate that move in front of the world..
Keep all this in mind come Monday morning & ur favorite urban jock is feeding u gossip and beef stories ask why no education?
I keep mentioning urban radio bc one of Kings last speeches was to Black radio DJs where he broke down their importance to Civil rights..
The speech was given in Aug 1967 and kings words were actually quite militant as he talked abt the importance of Black pride & black radio
King worked closely w/ Black radio pioneer Jack the Rapper on crafting his message & delivering it to Black people via radio..
The legacy of Black radio being an essential tool in fighting Civil rights has been ignored by todays urban jocks & now hijacked by G Beck
Jack the Rapper is the grandfather of all radio personalities.. Wolfman jack, casey casisim, dick Clark etc.. all got their swag from him
His philosophy was theater of the mind-A Black radio jock can make shit on a stick sound good-hence he can sell his ppl the idea of freedom
Click HERE to Listen to the Full Speech of MLK's NATRA Address
Here’s Martin Luther King‘s speech on the importance of Black Radio to the Civil Rights movement & the importance and meaning of having Black pride. This speech was given in Atlanta in August of 1967 in front of the National Association of TV and Radio Announcers..(NATRA) Here’s the link to this rare but incredible speech http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/60425/
The video below contains excerpts from that speech King gave.. Its called MLK vs the Radio
Thank You to the writer of this article.
I went canvassing for Obama for America today here in St.Louis, and brought up this same subject to the girl I was canvassing with. I told her how I had called the NAACP and had written to Cathy Hughes, of Radio One who has two stations here in St. Louis. I expressed to the NAACP and Ms. Hughes how St. Louis is drowning in Right Wing Talk Stations, and our black airwaves are singing songs and telling jokes. Our community is starving for a 24hr information station. Glen Beck was able to gather his crowd because he organized his peeps on all his radio affiliates across America, All the right wing media joined in together to continue their attack on President Obama, this time on sacred ground. I listened to both Black stations here in St. Louis before I left to go canvassing, neither station was playing MLK speeches, they were just playing songs, and laughing. Thanks again for bringing up this VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE ! and thanks for the link to the speech.
The only disturbing thing about any of this is the same thing that is disturbing about the atmosphere of culture in the U.S. as a whole, including HipHop. The disturbing thing is simply the fact that nothing seems to have any depth. This seems to be an ongoing culture trend and you should take these events as a hint.
The average voicing person in the media literally doesn’t know shit.
Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and Jay Z …like, really are cultural “icons”….and stuff dude! They’re also a reflection of the median level of awareness of the U.S. public.
Instead of being upset, figure out creative ways to “game” these stupid fucks and their constituencies.
It might make your stomach turn, but their really aren’t too many other options at this point.
When Jay Z says he’s dumbing it down for his audience he’s lying. He really is as stupid as he sounds – and so is Glen Beck.
This is an opportunity for people who really are “smart” to garner their own following by using the same cult psychology. The more “smart” people who participate the better since the social entropy in this regard is the most “democratic” thing (in a good way) you can hope for to offset the condensed following of people like Beck.
yeah- like hijack mlk legacy to say d.c. shld be a state?
using ppl (blck votes) to gain more power is sooo low
and sadistic! why not point that out of the sharpton rally?
oh, i 4got- conservative is evil, progrssve is good. u were
not attckd so i guess ur pre-empt is just the hate in u.
men w no honor get no respect; i hav a dream that one
day u wll stop judgin ppl by the color of skin and join
those no longer pickn at the scars. thn agn, all u mite
notice is someone of a lighter shade promotn my dream.
Disturbing…thanks for sharing…now what? Mobilizing how?
Do we reserve the historic spot for next year’s King rally?! How can we be proactive?
If KMEL did anything political nowadays I would die of shock. They can barely play music that’s different from the other pop/ top 40 stations. I would love to see them tackle some issues, especially in the morning when most other stations do their “talk radio” segment for the day
Ignorance is not a new phenomenon. Why is important to bring attention to it NOW? Is it because of the anniversary of the speech or because Glenn Beck promoting ignorance.
Honestly, Dr. King’s legacy has been linked for quite sometime.
I am, however, interested in the sista’s follow up comments after the “I’m tired of Civil Rights” statement. To a certain degree I agree. What does Civil Rights mean to the average 20 something year old or even the first generation American or the homeless family on the street. By and large, the the Civil Rights Movement was a black and white issue. As more people begin to see themselves as integrated or, what’s worse, separated by choice [i.e. Puerto Rican, Pakistani, Vietnamese, upper class], the concept of ‘civil rights’ loses it’s ability to unify around a certain issues.
Also, let’s remember that it wasn’t just the speech that made the march on monumental; it was the huge demonstration of unity.
Natcha.. I don’t think anyone’s bringing attention to King being ‘hijacked now’ or any sort of ignorance because its an anniversary.. When I see those sorts of remarks are u suggesting that the issue not be addressed? How should one address ignorance and when?
Dealing w/ oppression and fighting for social justice is a full time.. The fact that Beck chose the anniversary to make an even bolder statement is why some paid attention..Many of us talk about these issues all the time..
As for the Civil Rights.. anyone who aligns themselves with Glenn Beck has brought an over simplistic line abt Civil Rights being over.. It centers around some having ‘made it’ while thumbing their nose at others who are less fortunate..Does the average 20 year old know abt the Civil Rights movement? maybe not.. but he knows about unfairness and being shyted on.Its up top us to help shed light on the problems and what they can do..
While we arebusy spinning our wheels…
edit: Honestly, Dr. King’s legacy has been hi-jacked for quite sometime
I am writing him a letter and he will not like it but it
is the truth and it is time for us black American to
speak up. I am 80 years of age and I have seen and
heard enough of this bias, racists, discrimination
comment that is being broadcast on TV & Radio.
and they are getting away with so the think, but the
time is coming when they will answer to the almighty.
writing cathy hughes won’t get u anywhere unless u are inquiring about how to become a republican, she gives u al sharpton on her talk stations, that’s her way of giving back to the cause, she also gives u the boogie and the comedy the bossip that’s what keeps her radio empire afloat the ‘BOOGIE” the days of mask termed urban aka black radio being an outlet for political, national, local community, social change. era is gone and today’s ownership shows us that everyday.
“Its up top us to help shed light on the problems and what they can do..”
Makes me wonder if any of this bullshit is really helping young people or just diverting young peoples attention away from them helping themselves.
Here we go again, Blacks pitted against whites, While the jews with their media empires employ the former alcoholic, high school graduate, father and avid book reader and comeidan, the messiah of the white race. Glen Beck is an “entertainer employed by JEWS, Wake up, people!!! They have no respect for Black people nor Dr. King that is why they promote and financed him to do stunts like that. ANOTHER CASE OF BLACKS FIGHTING WHITES WHILE JEWS COLLECT ALL THE MONEY. GOD BLESS AMERICA OR “LITTLE ISRAEL”. FOLLOW THE MONEY TRAIL, THIS GUY ISN’T NO HITLER, HE WAS EMPLOYED BY THE JEWS TO DO WHAT HE DO. LOOK AT HIS CREDENTIALS AND BACKGROUND. THIS DISTRACTS YOU FROM WHAT THEM JEWS DOING IN NEW YORK AND OVER IN ISRAEL AND STABBING BLACK MEN RIGHT HERE IN THE U.S.. WAKE UP!!!
For Dr. King MLK Civil Rights Fights!! http://twiturm.com/rsskw
I’m sure King’s as well as others’ graves are resembing oil drills right about now. It’s an interesting notion when you have to treat this stuff like a marathon-viewing of TV Land shows…we’ve all seen this, analyzed this, etc., but can do nothing but change the channel if need be. That’s the point we should quit the tit-for-tat strategy and keep it movin’ with helping those who want/need help and leave the rest as TV rerun zombies.
Great points as always Davey. One of the reasons why radio does what it does is because we don’t collectively demand more. If you look at over the last decade, anytime the people try to start a movement against exploitative media something “funny” happens and the focus is distracted.
As far as Ms. King, I have to go back and listen to what she actually said before I make an analysis. I did hear her make a call to end white privilege.
I was at the Glenn Beck rally on saturday. There were people of all color and all backgrounds there. I persolally believe that he probably didnt know about the anniversary. From what I got out of it, he was trying to do his rally without stepping on any toes. The Sharpton rally was crazy! There was no common goal. No one was standing for the same thing. Saturday was a very important day in history. 47 years ago and a couple days ago. Glenn talked about the end of racism. He talked about god, country, and family. He asked that we fix ourselves and only then can we point the finger at anyone else.
send site updates