27 Aug 2010

A Suggestion for the Black Americans Who Don’t Like Beck’s Rally

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A lot of folks are accusing Glenn Beck of trying to “hijack” the legacy of Martin Luther King. (E.g. try this.) But they’re going for the tired old cards of calling him a racist, a divider, etc. Instead they should just say this:

We understand that black Americans don’t “own” the legacy of Dr. King. This isn’t an issue of property rights. Of course Mr. Beck and his fans have every legal right to hold a rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” speech.

Nonetheless, we are asking that they hold their rally a few blocks away, and on a different date. There are 364 other days in the year; what’s wrong with them?

Now look, we know full well that Mr. Beck and his supporters claim that they are trying to heal racial division. Intellectually, we black Americans know that just because we have been brutalized by angry white conservative males for as long as we can remember, that doesn’t mean that all angry white conservative males pose a threat to our physical safety.

But this isn’t about logic or rationality. This is about sensitivity to our feelings. Surely Mr. Beck can understand why a majority of American blacks wouldn’t appreciate him holding a rally on the anniversary of Dr. King’s famous speech. If he goes ahead with his plans, he won’t promote racial unity. So we ask him to hold the rally in a different place, on a different date.

11 Responses to “A Suggestion for the Black Americans Who Don’t Like Beck’s Rally”

  1. Ash says:

    100% Genius.

  2. Brandon Robison says:

    Hey Bob, where did you get this? Or did you write it? Either way, it’s brilliant. I’ve already sent it around to several people.

    • bobmurphy says:

      I got it from between my ears. Or from my mind, if you’re a dualist.

  3. ChristianTrader says:

    Hater!

    Actually as a person who opposes the Ground Zero Mosque/Community Center/Victory Beacon etc., I think you do make a good point. For the argument to against the Mosque to stick, one has to say that Islam is inherently problematic, but if it is, then it is still problematic if it was built anywhere in the City/State/Country. So there are only two options, let them build it wherever or attack Islam whole cloth.

  4. Erin Lale says:

    “Build it a few blocks away?” Is that a parody of the Ground Zero Mosque Controversy?

  5. stickman says:

    Bob, seeing as you’ve (favourably) quoted the Daily Show in the past few weeks… This is worth a laugh:
    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-august-26-2010/i-have-a-scheme

  6. Paul Zummo says:

    Wow, this is an absolutely awful analogy that mistakes cuteness for perceptiveness. If Beck represented the interests of, say, the KKK, then the analogy would be apt for the Ground Zero Mosque. Now if you actually do think that there is some correlation between the Klan and Back, well, you’re just doubly stupid.

    • bobmurphy says:

      The mosque represents the interests of Al Queda? I’m not saying I know one way or the other, but the evidence I saw on Fox consisted on notecards with yellow highlighting.

  7. Matt Flipago says:

    “Build it a few blocks away?” PROOF AT LAST!! A few blocks away, different date, clearly related to the mosque. Thus Bob-o hates Muslims. Deductive reasoning. BAMM

  8. Argosy Jones says:

    The proposed mosque is already two blocks away from ground zero. Would it meet your needs if it were one more block away?

    the “Ground Zero Mosque” will probably not be visible to pedestrians from the ground zero memorial or any part of the new world trade center site. I could be wrong about this and visitors might be able to see the very top floors of the building from some parts of the site (I’m not that familiar with the proposed site and it’s hard to judge by the rendering what the height of the mosque will be.

    The way this thing was portrayed by republicans, you would think it was designed to overlook the site of the carnage so that mosque goers could moon the WTC as they prostrate toward mecca. No such luck.

    Wikipedia says that the existing building was actually damaged by landing gear on 9/11. interesting. you’d think the mosque opponents would mention this.