Протест
американских
христиан.
Associated Press writers Brett Zongker, Nafeesa Syeed and
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
Glenn Beck speaks at his 'Restoring
Honor' rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Saturday.
By
PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer Philip
Elliott, Associated Press Writer – 36 mins ago.
WASHINGTON
– From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck
told the tens of thousands of activists he drew from around the nation Saturday
that the U.S. has too long "wandered in darkness."
At an event billed as nonpolitical but
reflecting the mood of a sizable number in the country, the rally's marquee
speaker, Sarah Palin, praised "patriots" in
the audience for "knowing never to retreat."
The two champions of the tea party movement
spoke from the very spot where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I
Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago. Some civil rights leaders who have
denounced Beck's choice of a venue staged a rival rally to honor King.
Palin, the 2008 GOP vice
presidential nominee who may make a White House run in 2012, said
activists must honor King's legacy by paying tribute to the men and women who
protect the United States in uniform.
Beck, pacing back and forth on the marble
steps, said he was humbled by the size of the crowd, which stretched along the
Washington Mall's long reflecting pool nearly all the way to the Washington
Monument.
"Something beyond imagination is
happening," he said. "America today begins to turn back to God."
AP/Jacquelyn Martin.
"For too long, this country has wandered
in darkness," said Beck, a Fox News host. He said it was now time to
"concentrate on the good things in America, the things we have
accomplished and the things we can do tomorrow."
Neither Beck nor Palin made overtly political
comments. Palin, greeted by chants of "USA, USA, USA" from many in
the crowd, told the gathering, "It is so humbling to get to be here with
you today, patriots. You who are motivated and engaged ... and knowing never to
retreat."
"We must restore America and restore her honor," said the former
Alaska governor, echoing the name of the rally, "Restoring Honor."
Palin told the crowd she wasn't speaking as a
politician. "No, something more, something much more. I've been asked to
speak as the mother of a soldier and I am proud of that distinction. Say what
you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet and you can't take that
away from me." It was a reference to her son, Track, 20, who served a
yearlong deployment in Iraq.
Palin honored military members in her speech.
She likened the rally participants to the civil rights activists who came to
the National Mall
to hear King's historic speech. She said the same spirit that helped civil
rights activists overcome oppression, discrimination and violence would help
this group as well.
"We are worried about what we face.
Sometimes, our challenges seem insurmountable," Palin said. "Look
around you. You're not alone," Palin told participants.
The crowd – organizers had a permit for
300,000, was vast, with people standing shoulder to shoulder across large
expanses of the Mall. The National Park Service stopped doing crowd counts in
1997 after the agency was accused of underestimating numbers for the 1995
Million Man March.
Civil rights leaders protested the event
and scheduled a 3-mile plus march from a high school to the site of a planned
King memorial near the Tidal Basin and not far from Beck's gathering. Karen
Watts, 57, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., was among those attending the King rally and
march. "The dream is not forgotten," she said. "I live my life
honoring Dr. King to make sure I'm part of that dream, by serving my
community."
Of Beck's rally, she said, "They're
American citizens. So long as they don't infringe upon my rights ... let them
do what they do."
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's delegate
to Congress, said she remembers being at King's march on Washington, which she
said prompted change and ended segregation in public places. "Glenn Beck's
march will change nothing. But you can't blame Glenn Beck for his
March-on-Washington envy," she said.
Beck has said he did not intend to choose the
King anniversary for his rally but had since decided it was "divine
providence." Beck, in a taped presentation mixed in with his live remarks,
invoked King's message and said "the fight for freedom was not easy."
He repeatedly injected religion into the
event and urged rally participants to rely on faith to help the U.S. recover
from an economic recession that has given the country stubbornly high
unemployment. "Faith is in short supply," Beck said. "To
restore America, we must restore ourselves."
Organizers said their aim was to honor
military personnel and others "who embody our nation's founding principles
of integrity, truth and honor." Many in the crowd watched the proceedings
on large television screens. On the edges of the Mall, vendors sold "Don't
Tread on Me" flags, popular with tea party activists. Other activists
distributed fliers urging voters "dump Obama." The pamphlet included
a picture of the president with a Hitler-style mustache.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, leading the civil
rights march and rally, mocked the Beck production. "The folks who used to
criticize us for marching are trying to have a march themselves," he said.
"We come because the dream has not been achieved. We've made a lot of
progress. But we still have a long way to go."
He said he wasn't seeking a confrontation
with those at the Beck rally. "We wouldn't disgrace today by allowing you
to provoke us," he said in remarks directed at the Beck followers.
"If peopple start heckling, smile at them," he told fellow marchers.
People began filling up the space between the
Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument early in the day, many waving
American flags. Wasington's subway system was extremely crowded with long lines
of people trying to get to the rally. Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said
that there was crowding at least a dozen stations.
Ricky Thomas, 43, a SWAT team police officer
from Chesapeake Beach, Md., brought his 10-year old son Chase to the Beck
rally. "I wanted my son to see democracy in action," Thomas said.
He said he wants government to stay out of
people's lives. He acknowledged that he works for government, but said it's
"a part of government that helps people when they are in trouble." Beck
has given voice to those angry and frustrated with President Barack
Obama and other Democrats this election year, especially members
of the tea party movement.
«У
меня есть
мечта белого
человека».
Представители
американского
Движения за
гражданские
права
заявили, что консерваторы
не должны
проводить
свою акцию
около
монумента
Линкольну,
где борец против
дискриминации
чернокожих
Мартин Лютер
Кинг ровно 47
лет назад
произнес
свою
знаменитую
речь «У меня
есть мечта».
Организатор
демонстрации
консерваторов:
ведущий
телеканала Fox News
Гленн Бек, настаивает, что
день митинга
под
названием «Восстановим
честь!» был
выбран
случайно. Сегодня
Америка
начинает
снова
поворачиваться
к Богу.
«Дело
не в дате,
дело в наших
идеях, – сказал
он. – Я
постоянно
слышу в
разных средствах
массовой
информации,
что это
событие, день
его
проведения, – это
какая-то
попытка
заслонить
речь Мартина
Лютера Кинга.
Но масштаба
моей
личности для
этого не достаточно.
И ничьей
другой тоже».
Выступая
перед своими
сторонниками,
Гленн Бек заявил,
что США
слишком
долго «блуждали
в темноте». «Сегодня
Америка
начинает
снова
поворачиваться
к Богу», – заявил
ведущий. На
митинге
также
выступила бывший
кандидат в
вице-президенты
от Республиканской
партии Сара
Пейлин – ещё
один лидер «Движения
чаепития».
Публичный
вызов.
Между
тем,
противники
консерваторов
проводят в
Вашингтоне
собственную
демонстрацию.
Они
собираются
неподалеку
от монумента
Линкольну, в
месте, где
предполагается
построить
мемориал
Мартину
Лютеру Кингу.
По
мнению участников
альтернативного
митинга, действия
сторонников
Гленна Бека
противоречат
идеям Кинга.
«Это
публичный
вызов всему,
за что
выступало Движение
за
гражданские
права, – сказал
журналистам конгрессмен
от штата
Джорджия
Джон Льюис,
который в 1963
году выступал
во время
марша на
Вашингтон во
главе с
Кингом. – Наши
действия
никогда не
провоцировал
гнев, и мы не
пытались
разделить людей.
А Гленн Бек –
это фигура, всячески
способствующая
расколу».
В
прошлом году
Бек обвинил
президента
США Барака
Обаму в расизме,
заявил, что
тот
испытывает «глубоко
укоренившуюся
ненависть к
белым людям и
к белой
культуре». «Движение
чаепития»
объединяет
противников
администрации
США во главе
с Обамой. Его
сторонники
возражают
против
повышения
роли
государства
в жизни
страны, в частности,
недавней
реформы
здравоохранения
и повышения
налогов.
Его
название
вдохновлено
известным «Бостонским
чаепитием» 1773
года, когда
американские
колонисты
бросали в
бухту тюки с
чаем
английской
Ост-Индской
компании в
знак
протеста
против того,
что метрополия
берёт с них
налоги, но не
принимает их
в Парламент.
Инициатива
устройства
нового
чаепития
исходила от
биржевого корреспондента
телекомпании
CNBC
Рика
Сантелли, который в
феврале 2009
года с экрана
призвал зрителей
выразить
таким
образом
протест по
поводу
усиления
контроля
правительства
над
финансовыми
учреждениями
и автопрома.
LUCH
2010