Recap of 47th Anniversity of 1963 March on Washington 8.28

Posted by basta123 on September 4, 2010 · 2 Comments 

20 Minute Highlight Video/Photo now available!!!!!

From 47th Anniv March on Washington public

RECAP OF 47TH ANNIVERSARY

THE 1963 MARCH ON WASHINGTON

______________________________

The numbers will be forever debated as well as whether Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” march was counter to Rev. Sharpton’s “Reclaiming the Dream” march or vice versa………..but all that is irrelevant.

We participated and covered the “Reclaiming the Dream” march and it was a tremendous event with a simple goal…….paying respect to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the countless heroes who made the 1963 March on Washington one of our nation’s finest moments.

Marchers at National Mall

Similar to trailblazer Mr. A. Phillip Randolph assembling a core of leaders who coordinated the event in 1963, Rev. Al Sharpton assembled modern day heroes that brought 100,000+ supporters to the National Mall. The morning rally which featured radio personality “The Black Eagle” – Joe Madison, heard on XM – The Power 169 did an outstanding job of MC’ing the event. Additionally, Ed Shutlz, MSNBC personality brought the crowd to their feet with his “I’ve been riding with the brothers” comment, as well as The #1 Truthfighter, Warren Ballentine as well as appearances from other distinguished guests.

The rally – STARTED ON TIME at the infamous Dunbar High school and by 2pm the march traveled down 6th St. to Pennsylvania Avenue and the crowd seemed to stretch for more than a mile in length!!!!!! Going down Pennsylvania Avenue and heading to the National Mall, as Glenn Beck’s rally seemed to be wrapping up, participants from that event seemed to be awestruck as the sea of marchers headed to the site of Dr. King’s monument which is slated to be unveiled in 2011.

Led by “Making it Plain” host Mark Thompson, XM 167 and joined by Rev. Walter Fauntroy who was one of Dr. King’s original Lieutenants during the civil rights struggle of the ’60’s, the event featured Martin Luther King, III providing a solid perspective of why this event was so important as well as marching orders going forward.

One striking perspective of the march was the number of youth and families who participated. Seeing people who had lined the street, even in the National Mall feel compelled to join in and finish up at Dr. King’s monument site was a special moment.

Finally, while there was some controversy on Glenn Beck’s motivation to hold the event on August 28th, we offer a couple of noteworthy comments:

1. Those who have studied Dr. King as well as those who understand the 1963 March on Washington, understand the event was much much much more than Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.” Specifically the event was to showcase the need for Justice and Jobs and there was countless speakers who spoke on these topics. Dr. King could be defined as the keynote speaker but thanks to the encouragement of the late Mahalia Jackson who kept belting out in the background during Dr. King’s speech……..”tell them about your dream Dr. King”, he majestically used his ability as a great orator to transform a simple message into the cadence and other traits used by powerful preachers to invoke a greater meaning of his message.
2. Some were confused and voiced frustration of how Glenn Beck was able to reserve the space at the Lincoln monument. By the sheer numbers his event appeared successful but keep in mind they received major financial sponsorships to subsidize those who participated.
3. The Civil Rights community, led by Rev. Sharpton has always had a significant event on Aug. 28th, however such events have not been isolated at the Lincoln monument so that is how the site became available to Glenn Beck’s group.
4. Glenn Beck through his radio/T.V. show has been extremely critical of President Obama, from calling him a racist to making derogatory remarks about First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as the daughters. While everyone is entitled to criticize, making remarks to invoke a negative reaction to those who support such rhetoric can be dangerous. Interestingly, for weeks leading up to the event, Joe Madison through his radio program (both are programmed from XM’s headquarters) had been encouraging Glenn Beck to denounce his comments. Surprisingly, on Friday, August 27th Glenn Beck and his team made a visit to “The Eagle’s Nest”. Joe asked him specifically about his comments and he claimed not to have made them. As you can imagine with modern technology, staff was able to pull the tapes and Beck was caught red handed!!!

1. Beck has claimed to use his event in support of “some” of the ideology of Dr. King, so while that is good news, hopefully he as well as his supporters will get more familiar with Dr. King’s legacy as truly, anyone attending an event spearheaded by Dr. King WOULD NOT HAVE TO BE TOLD ……….leave your signs and your weapons at home!!!!!! Further the notion of saluting the troops is admirable and we all pay respect for those serving our country, but Dr. King was against War as it was obvious the civil rights struggle was greatly hampered by valuable resources being needed to fund Wars, so it was somewhat of a contradiction for Beck, Sarah Palin and other supporters to use the event to bring the nation together.

– 30-

Basta

Bishop providing prayer at MLK Monument

Filed under Current News, Events, Media, Washington D.C. · Tagged with Al Sharpton, Aug. 28th 2010, Glenn Beck, March on Washington videos, Reclaim the Dream, Restore America March, Restoring Honor, Washington Rally