Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

It would appear that controversy, and not fiscal conservatism, is the Tea Party’s primary philosophy.

Earlier this year, during the most heated phase of the healthcare debate, for example, there were ugly incidents of Tea Party members spitting on African-American Senators and chanting racist slurs.

Next, there were numerous instances of Sarah Palin, former Alaska Governor and right-wing icon, telling Party members to put Democratic Congressmen in their “crosshairs” a move that dangerously stoked violence.

And this weekend, the Party has again grabbed headlines for holding a “Restoring Honour” rally at the Lincoln Memorial here in Washington, the very same spot on which Martin Luther King stood exactly 47 years ago when he made his epochal “I have a dream”, speech.

With over 130,000 people signing up to the Facebook site of the rally and authorities saying they expect at least 100,000 people to turn up, the rally organised by far-right commentator Glenn Beck has come in for sharp criticism from former leaders of the American civil rights movement.

Al Sharpton, a prominent African-American leader and President of the National Action Network, described Mr. Beck’s event as an “outright attempt to flip the imagery of Dr. King... and circumventing him and distorting him”.

The National Action Network was also said to be planning the “Reclaim the Dream” march on the same day, and culminating at the very same location as the Tea Party rally.

Rally criticised

Other leaders also attacked the plan to hold the Tea Party rally. Carlton Veazey, of the National Baptist Convention and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, was quoted by ABC News as saying, “What they are trying to do is divert the nation from the agenda of Martin Luther King to their agenda, and I think that’s hijacking his legacy.”

However Mr. Beck claimed that his rally coinciding with the anniversary of Dr. King’s speech was not planned, and was “divine providence”. Ms. Palin is expected to be one of the speakers at the rally.

Yet in a move that left few doubts that he was aware of the coincidence, Mr. Beck announced that one of the speakers at the rally would be Dr. King’s niece Alveda King, who was slated to discuss Dr. King's work and legacy. She was said to have written in an op-ed in the Christian Science Monitor that “Uncle Martin’s legacy is big enough to go around.”

In a rare move to contain the explosive potential of the rally, however, Mr. Beck requested Tea Party members not to bring placards and signs, “political or otherwise”. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the mainstream umbrella group for minorities which has also been at odds with the Tea Party over questions of racism, commended this display of restraint.

In a statement, NAACP president Ben Jealous said, “We commend Beck for heeding the NAACP’s call for civility by banning extreme signs and guns at his event.”

In a statement NAACP president Ben Jealous said, “We commend Beck for heeding the NAACP’s call for civility by banning extreme signs and guns at his event.”

Labels: Martin Luther King, Sarah Palin, Tea Party rally