Beck rally draws vast crowd

August 29, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck and tea party champion Sarah Palin appealed Saturday to a vast, predominantly white crowd on the National Mall to help restore traditional American values and honor Martin Luther King’s message. Civil-rights leaders who accused the group of hijacking King’s legacy had their own rally and march.

Though Beck billed his event as nonpolitical, activists from around the nation said their show of strength was a clear sign that they can make a difference in the country’s future and that they want a government that will listen and unite.

Palin told the tens of thousands who stretched from the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial to the grass of the Washington Monument that calls to transform the country weren’t enough. “We must restore America and restore her honor,” said the former Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, “Restoring Honor.”

Palin, the GOP vice presidential nominee in 2008 and a potential White House contender in 2012, and Beck repeatedly cited King and made references to the Founding Fathers. Beck put a heavy religious cast on nearly all his remarks, sounding at times like an evangelical preacher.

“Something beyond imagination is happening,” he said. “America today begins to turn back to God.”

Beck exhorted the crowd to “recognize your place to the creator. Realize that he is our king. He is the one who guides and directs our life and protects us.” He asked his audience to pray more. “I ask, not only if you would pray on your knees, but pray on your knees with your door open for your children to see,” he said.

A group of civil-rights activists organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton had a counter rally at a high school, then embarked on a three-mile march to the site of a planned monument honoring King. The site, bordering the Tidal Basin, was not far from the Lincoln Memorial where Beck and the others spoke about two hours earlier. One group, Celebrate the Dream, was to unveil a 77-foot long sculpture by Boardman native Mike Murphy in honor of King near the Washington Monument. Murphy now lives in Georgia.

It was not clear how many tea party activists were in the crowd, but the sheer size of the turnout helped demonstrate the size and potential national influence of the movement.

Tea-party activism and widespread voter discontent with government already have affected primary elections and could be an important factor in November’s congressional, gubernatorial and state legislative races.

Beck paced on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and spoke through a wireless microphone headset. “For too long, this country has wandered in darkness. ... Today we are going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished — and the things that we can do tomorrow.”

In one of his many references to King, Beck noted that he had spent the night before in the same Washington hotel where King had put the finishing touches on his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Clarence B. Jones, who served as King’s personal attorney and his speechwriter, said he believes King would not be offended by Beck’s rally but “pleased and honored” that a diverse group of people would come together, almost five decades later, to discuss the future of America.

Jones, now a visiting professor at Stanford University, said the Beck rally seemed to be tasteful and did not appear to distort King’s message, which included a recommitment to religious values.

“I think it is the testimony to the power and greatness of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in enabling America to make a peaceful transition from apartheid and racial segregation to a multiracial society where Glenn Beck or anyone would hold a rally at the Lincoln Memorial,” Jones said in a telephone interview.