Michael B. Keegan, President of People For the American Way, released the following statement about Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in DC this weekend:

“Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech was one of America’s proudest moments, and helped define the core values of a nation. Dr. King’s speech was a powerful call for tolerance, compassion, and unity in a harshly divided country. On that day in August of 1963, his March on Washington gathered hundreds of thousands of Americans devoted to expanding equality and opportunity.

“Forty-seven years later, Glenn Beck is trying to appropriate Dr. King’s legacy in order to push his agenda of intolerance, fear, and division. Beck says he’s ‘reclaiming civil rights.’ In fact, he’s insulting exactly what Dr. King and his movement stood for.  Beck has made himself famous for his attacks on progressives, Muslim Americans, union members and even churches who preach the social justice values to which Dr. King dedicated his life.  He claimed that President Obama has ‘a deep-seated hatred of white people.’  Beck is not ‘restoring honor’ to our country; he’s just fanning the flames of tired old prejudices amplified and enlarged for political gain.

“Beck’s histrionics and his deeply cynical appeals to bigotry are anathema to Dr. King’s legacy.  In honoring the life work of Dr. King, Americans should stand for justice and equality for all people, and against hate and those who speak, teach and promote it.”

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