According to the Restoring Honor general information kit, this is a "non-political event" intended to honor American service men and women and "other upstanding citizens who embody our nation’s founding principles of integrity, truth and honor." The focus of the event, according to these materials, is to honor military service.
The event materials do not cite any direct connection to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Beck's comments during his radio show, however, indicate that King is very much a focus of the event:
"as we [the event attendees] create history together, your children will be able to say 'I remember. I was there.' As we, as we pick up Martin Luther King's dream that has been distorted and lost-- it's time to restore it and to finish it." (Beck's radio program, 6/18/10)
"King's dream" as interpreted by Beck would focus solely on one statement that conservatives use to attempt to undermine affirmative action policies:
This argument goes something like this:
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. (Via.)
King-- who we all agree was a Very Great Man-- said skin color shouldn't matter. We should be colorblind. Ergo, King would say we shouldn't give special treatment to anyone based on skin color.While King's ultimate goal was to see an America in which skin color did not determine or influence one's opportunities, he did not think that the way to achieve racial equality was to stop paying attention to the very real differences that correlated to race. But that is how contemporary conservatives often interpret and use King's words.
In order to claim that the immediate implementation of race-blind policies was King's dream, one must ignore all of King's statements that directly call for affirmative action measures:
"A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for him, in order to equip him to compete on a just and equal basis."King clearly calls for affirmative action measures. He calls for white Americans to educate themselves and to implement measures that would bring African Americans to an equal footing with white Americans.
"The majority of White Americans consider themselves sincerely committed to justice for the Negro. They believe that American society is essentially hospitable to fair play and to steady growth toward a middle-class utopia embodying racial harmony. but unfortunately this is a fantasy of self-deception and comfortable vanity."
"Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn. The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans."
From Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? published in 1967, four years after the "I have a dream" speech.
Only then would affirmative action measures be unnecessary.
Related links:
"I have a dream" (and if you haven't watched it lately, you should-- it gives me chills every time)
"Finally, someone is bringing Martin Luther King's movement back to its conservative white roots." Stephen Colbert, 6/24/10)
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