Published: August 28, 2010
While Smitty is blogging from the Reflecting Pool, Al Sharpton is leading a march from Dunbar High School that is being live-blogged by The Washington Post’s Krissah Thompson, a few excerpts of which are illustrative:
Joyce White arrived at a what she called a counter-march to Fox News host Glenn Beck’s rally. She came to remember the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech but also to show her opposition to Beck.
“If we hadn’t elected a black president, do you think they would be doing this today?” she asked. . . .
The bleachers [at the Dunbar High football field] still weren’t filled 10 minutes before the “Reclaim the Dream” rally organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton was scheduled to start. . . .
Bianca Farmer, a senior at Dunbar High School, received big applause when she told the crowd not to stop at celebrating Obama. “We must be fearful of stopping there,” she said. “The fight is not in the same arena as it was 47 years ago but the fight lives on.” . . .
Representatives are here from various District political campaigns, labor unions and churches . . .
The Rev. Al Sharpton said in an interview before he spoke to thousands at his rally in Northwest Washington that “people are clear in what Dr. King’s dream was about and we will not react to those who try to distort that dream.” . . .
(Uh, if you’re not going to “react,” why the march?)
“Shame on them. We still have a dream. We are here to let those folks on the Mall know that they don’t represent the dream,” said Jaime Contreras, president of SEIU-32BJ. “They sure as hell don’t represent me. They represent hate-mongering and angry white people. . . .”
Education Secretary Arne Duncan told the ralliers gathered at Dunbar High School that education is the civil rights issue of this generation. . . .
Code Pink is also at the rally, along with other anti-war protesters. The crowd showcases a mixture of progressive/liberal causes.
Code Pink? What the heck is that about? Well, anyway, the 5-mile march from Dunbar to the Lincoln Memorial started a little after 2 p.m., and was reported to be moving slowly. So if Smitty heads home before supper, he’ll miss his chance to “represent hate-mongering” to the Rev. Sharpton, Code Pink, SEIU, and their friends.
UPDATE: The husky ponytailed blogger can’t stand it:
Explaining the specific causes of Charles Johnson’s failure as a writer — his inability to compose persuasive rhetoric, etc. — would be a simple task, but why bother with analysis? Just enjoy the laughs.
UPDATE II: The Sharpton march denouement:
When the Sharpton rally reached the mall, most of the crowd from Beck’s rally had begun to disperse. Those remaining, mostly smiled politely. . . .
“Glen Beck, we’re going to show you. We ain’t going to let Glenn Beck turn us around,” one man shouted into a megaphone. . . . “We need to be shouting ‘we are America,’” said one woman in Sharpton’s rally. “See all those tea baggers.”
In other words, Sharpton’s crowd wanted a confrontation, and the Restoring Honor participants just smiled, probably thinking to themselves: “We’ve got Sarah Palin and 300,000 people. Who do you have? Al Sharpton, SEIU and a bunch of freaking Code Pink losers? Nov. 2 is just nine weeks away. Have a nice day.”
