Distorting Martin Luther King: Critiquing Beck and Sharpton
Saturday, August 28 was the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. Rallies were held there on Saturday by Fox host Glenn Beck and by Al Sharpton.
Hosts Cecil Prescod and Celeste Carey speak with Kevin Gray, the author of "Waiting for Lightning to Strike: The Fundamentals of Black Politics."
Kevin Gray said, "We ought to be marching against the White House for a jobs program. Sharpton is doing nothing but running interference for the White House, providing a fake leadership. The NAACP is acting like a political tool of the White House. It's not about Glenn Beck, it's about our human rights agenda and that so many who presume to speak for King don't have one.
"To find what King would say today, we shouldn't look so much to the 'I Have a Dream' speech in 1963 as to the 'Beyond Vietnam' speech in 1967. In that speech, King called the U.S. 'the greatest purveyor of violence' -- and it still is. He called for 'a true revolution of values ... that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring' -- which is still true. King would be marching, but not against Beck. King called on us to declare 'eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism.'"