What's Good For the Goose...

As if to prove my point in my note (originally published on Facebook on August 17, 2010 and published here on August 28, 2010) entitled “Certain Inalienable Rights”, a number of groups are denouncing a planned rally called “Restoring Honor” to “pay tribute to America’s service personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our nation’s founding principles” organized by Glenn Beck on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, August 28, 2010.

What is the reason for the opposition to the rally? It happens to be on the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s, “I Have a Dream” speech at the same location. Does that sound familiar for those who read my other note?

But wait! Isn’t Dr. King the one who fought for equality for ALL men, regardless of skin color, while quoting some of the same passages I quoted from our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution? Isn’t he the man that dreamt that one day “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood”? Isn’t this the man who said that one day “all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics” will be able to join hands? He is that man!

So what is the message these protesters are sending? Here’s the message I’m hearing.

I’m hearing that Dr. King’s words were just words to them. I’m hearing that Dr. King’s memory is just a memory to them. I’m hearing that they’ve stopped dreaming Dr. King’s dream. I’m hearing that the words and the date are more important than the message conveyed by Dr. King. I’m hearing reverse discrimination.

I wonder if these same people would have complained if the rally was organized on that same date and at that same location by Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or Chris Rock for that matter? I bet they wouldn’t have.

News flash! We have a black President and Dr. King’s own niece, Alveda King, supports the rally organized by Beck. Is it possible that Beck is just grandstanding and using the date to promote his own agenda? Of course, but that will become so obvious that it will likely have a negative effect on him and his agenda.

So get off your discriminicycle, get on the band wagon, and read that speech until you understand what Dr. King stood for (http://www.usconstitution.net/dream.html).

Dr. King’s words are not just words to me. They are like the words of our founding fathers. They are the words of a great man who wanted nothing more than was promised to us by these founding fathers. They are the words of man who, like me, believed that we are ALL entitled to “Certain Inalienable Rights” including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Let us stop bickering about dates and places and start believing in the ideals. The ideals designed and documented by our founding fathers and believed in and supported by Dr. King. Until we can ALL do that, his dream will remain a dream and never become reality.

To borrow from Dr. King’s own words and modified to fit our situation today:

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed OUR community must not lead us to distrust of all people, for many people have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone!