Sharpton: “This is our day and we ain’t giving it away”

I think this is sad. Not sure what to say, but Rev. Al Sharpton stood on a stage Saturday and certainly did nothing to improve the political or racial discussion in the United States.

Jeff Dunetz at Big Government put together a comparison of the rallies in Washington, D.C. I did not watch any of the news coverage from Saturday, and I don’t listen or watch Beck anyway … but it certainly seems the good reverend stepped in it by attacking the crowd over at the mall.

Does this quote leave a bad taste in your mouth? My emphasis in bold.

“They may have the mall, but we have the message. They may have the platform, but we have the dream.” Sharpton and other activists gathered to commemorate the 47th anniversary of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech, then joined hands and walked 3 miles to the site of King’s future memorial. “This is our day and we ain’t giving it away,” said Sharpton.

Maybe the quote is taken out of context…

Posted in

Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

28 Comments

  1. PatRiot on August 30, 2010 at 7:13 am

    I wanted to see both for myself and make my own conclusions.  I watched parts of both on C-SPAN.  It seems that some of the comments at both events were common: faith, individual rights, MLK.  Most speakers were polite. But I must say that those at the Sharpton event with derrogatory comments did themselves a HUGE disservice.

    The parties (the media for starters) that prejudged Beck's event wrongly, basically yelled fire in a theater.  America is very lucky that violence did not break out because of it.

     



  2. Dimsdale on August 30, 2010 at 8:00 am

    Apparently, being ordained in the Pentacostal Church at the age of 10 has very few job prerequisites.

     

    Who was doing more to bring people together, Beck or Sharpton?  Remember Tawana Brawley and the Duke Lacross debacles?

     

    Since when are civil rights the domain of only one group?



  3. GdavidH on August 30, 2010 at 8:30 am

    Dims…. I grew up in Wappingers Falls, NY. (The hometown of Brawley) I was 2 or 3 years older than her, and the ( completely innocent) volunteer fireman/police candidate who was badgered to the point he killed himself was a friend of my older sister. That case really divided that town and alot of people got hurt, some even moved away. No one involved ever received an apology from Sharpton, and to this day he still squirms around when asked about it.

     That man will never, in my eyes, be anything but a racist, self promoting POS. Glenn Beck has gone so far as to have him on his show and even calls him a friend.

     The two could not be more different.



  4. scottm on August 30, 2010 at 8:37 am

    See Steve, we can find common ground in that Glenn Beck is a bufoon, and I don't care for Al Sharpton and his short sighted rhetoric.  But if Glenn Beck is going to talk about the sensitivity of the people against a mosque then he should  have also chosen a different day or venue for this charade.  As far as prejudging the event, it was based on what he says on the other 364 days of the year.



  5. Steve M on August 30, 2010 at 8:53 am

    @scottm – don't put words in my mouth. I'm concerned about your reading comprehension skills. I said I don't listen to Beck or watch his show, that does not even come close to thinking Beck is a bufoon.

     



  6. sammy22 on August 30, 2010 at 10:59 am

    The Romans power elite had "bread and circuses" to keep the plebes from REALLY knowing what was going on in the empire. It seems to me we're getting close to that w/ this unending "political" (or is it posturing) tit-for-tat by those who do not sweat much to make a lot of money, but can manipulate crowds.



  7. scottm on August 30, 2010 at 2:34 pm

    Sammy, you can throw in Beck co-host Sarah Palin into that group, 75k per speaking engagement plus first class airfare and a top notch hotel.  I guess this is how she better serves America after quitting her "job" as governor of Alaska, which, similar to Texas is a figurehead position.



  8. Tim-in-Alabama on August 30, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    Sharpton is a disgusting race hustler. The only thing Fox News ever should apologize for is having him as a frequent guest. His kind of hatred is more suited for msnbc-DailyKos-HuffingtonPost-MediaMatters mob.



  9. Dimsdale on August 30, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    I'm curious, scott.  What did you see or hear on Saturday that has you filled with such vitriol against Beck or even Palin?  Be specific please.



  10. TomL on August 31, 2010 at 1:33 am

    Dims you know how it is, why debate merit when hatred will do.



  11. Anne-EH on August 31, 2010 at 2:13 am

    Hi Steve:

    Just want to let you know, your very excellent commentary was posted over at Free Republic. Many responses. Here is the URL:
    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2580478/



  12. chris-os on August 31, 2010 at 3:25 am

    Dims, make no mistake Glen Beck is nothing but the mouth by the real people in charge, David and Charles Koch, and Murdoch. They along with Dick Armey are dictating and funding all of this process.

    So transparent. they found that they need to harness the evangelicals as Bush successfully had-they somehow disappeared as repub supporters in '08.



  13. scottm on August 31, 2010 at 3:51 am

    Dims, I didn't watch the rally and I don't care what they said.  Beck is a fraud and is so cartoonish it bothers me that people actually get behind what he says.  Standing there crying on his show as if he really cares, while he pockets millions of dollars.  Sarah Palin is a reality show wreck and her fifteen minutes of fame should have ended after the election.  Search for her first interview on fox news from Glenn Beck and watch her squirm when Glenn Beck asks her who her favorite founding father is, she was completely stumped, it was comical.  Glenn Beck profits by stoking fear that there is a black president and a growing hispanic population in addition to muslims. 



  14. Dimsdale on August 31, 2010 at 4:14 am

    chis: not a small number say the exact same thing about Øbama.  Soros, Axelrod, Wright, Ayers etc. ring a bell?

     

    scott: you didn't watch the rally.  How can you honestly comment on something you haven't seen?  I encountered another Ph.D. that had an opinion like that about Limbaugh.  "Fine." I said, "Tell me what he said that so incensed you."  "Well, I don't listen to him".  She then realized the folly of her statement.  And I can link you to some fine videos of our leader that show him completely flustered on answering questions, or the times he could not finish his speech because the teleprompter went off.  Say what you will about Palin, but when the teleprompters went off at her acceptance speech, she continued on without missing a beat.

     

    How much money does, say, Chris Matthews make?



  15. scottm on August 31, 2010 at 4:27 am

    Dims the rally itself and the date and venue were meant to draw attention, the content meant nothing.  Sarah Palin scribbles notes on her hand and says the same things over and over.  I don't know too much about Chris Mathews other than he didn't hold a rally.  It's not exactly a hardball question to answer, particularly coming from Glenn Beck. 



  16. April Lynn on August 31, 2010 at 4:39 am

    Gee ScottM thanks for clearing up the misinformation on Glenn Beck, all this time I thought it was George Bush's fault.  Shame on Glenn Beck for promoting honor and faith.  What a bad bad man. Your talking points don't hold truth.  Facts are stubborn things.

    Glenn Beck did more to honor Dr. King in one afternoon than Al Sharpton has done in his entire seperatist life.  Sharpton could not look more foolish, something like a 2 year old spewing hate with a temper tantrum. And on another note the only thing smaller than Al Sharpton's rally is Chris Matthews' audience on NBC. 



  17. chris-os on August 31, 2010 at 5:05 am

    “You know it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families? Took me about a year. […] And when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, "Oh shut up!" I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them.”
    Quote from the "restoring honor" man. 9/9/2005, at the same time he was ranting against the Katrina victims.
    Why the vitriol, you ask?

    [Edited by Admin] chris-os added the following comment to another post after the thread was closed…

    Posted: 2010/08/31 at 7:40 pm
    Steve , you locked out any further quotes on the Sharpton post.
    You are right, I read a snippet on line, was appalled-and unknowingly, took it out of context.
    Sorry.



  18. TomL on August 31, 2010 at 5:18 am

    Chris you hate the families of the heroes who knowing gave up their lives to help people in need. Shame on you.



  19. April Lynn on August 31, 2010 at 5:31 am

    Is there a reason you didn't post the whole text of what Beck was saying?  Here I will help you out, I mean wouldn't want to spread lies and all:

    “Yeah, what an interesting way to take a phrase out of context. First of all, I said that at a fundraiser that I was holding for victims' families for Hurricane Katrina. When you look at it in its entire context, what I was saying was in the context of this fundraiser, you have to stop looking at the people who are complaining on television. In Hurricane Katrina, you have to stop looking at the people that are stealing the televisions because that — those aren't the people. Those aren't real victims here of Hurricane Katrina. Those are the people that are trying to benefit from the tragedy. And out of — and the exact quote was, on the 9-11 victims, out of the 3,000 families, there's maybe three or four that you continually see on television that are using the tragedy for their own political agenda. And those people, I'm sick of hearing from.”

     

    He was talking about those “victims” who were continuously looking for their 15 minutes of fame and to extort more money for their own perverse self interest – wow that sounds so familiar to Mr Hopey and Changey comes to mind.



  20. Lynn on August 31, 2010 at 5:33 am

    chris-os, I'm going to give you the benefit of a doubt and assume that you are speaking out of sheer emotion, as I sometimes do. You don't realize how this dishonors every loving thing you have said in the past. You can't mean you hate these innocent people who suffered such a loss.



  21. Lynn on August 31, 2010 at 5:38 am

    Oh sorry Chris-os. I did it again. Yeah that's a tough statement to take. However, April Lynn does offer significant proof that it was only a partial quote.



  22. Steve M on August 31, 2010 at 5:49 am

    Chris did not say those things. She made an attempt to quote Beck from Sept. 2005 – ellipses and all – from a speech (or whatever) at a Katrina fundraiser. Media Matters made a huge deal about it and in my opinion purposefully left out important context. It's interesting to note that in both the Katrina and 9/11 references in the original full quote, he intentionally clarifies his point twice.

    "And I really didn't — of the 3,000 victims' families, I don't hate all of them. Probably about 10 of them."

    and

    "It's just a small percentage of those who were left in New Orleans, or who decided to stay in New Orleans, and they're getting all the attention. It's exactly like the 9-11 victims' families. There's about 10 of them that are spoiling it for everybody."

    I'm not going to stand up for how Beck said it or what he said, but Chris should at least be honest and reference the full quote instead of leaving out the two parts listed above.



  23. scottm on August 31, 2010 at 6:15 am

    Go to Beck's website, he's hawking everything from overpriced gold coins to t shirts to safes.  He is a spokesperson for goldline and has a link on his website, goldline is being investigated because they sell overpriced gold coins which are being marketed as an alternative investment in these uncertain times, but it's marked up as much as 200% from melt value.  This guy is a snake oil salesman who promotes fear so he can sell his virtual fallout shelters.  He makes 35 million a year for being a carnival barker, I guess what P.T. Barnum said holds true, "Theres a sucker born every minute". 



  24. Odonna on August 31, 2010 at 7:51 am

    "Those who have ears to hear will understand."

    Quibble about Beck's imperfections, but he's one of the few I see seeking to heal racial division by spotlighting the role of Black Americans in our founding and other history.  More recently he went over "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of the racial divides and civil rights history.  At the rally, he brought together 240 clergy of diverse religious traditions who disagree on most everything except that a return to God and personal honor is the beginning of unity and healing our nation.

    I think Beck is sincere because his approach is right out of the Book of Mormon.  One of its messages is that spiritual captivity leads to political captivity, and the only way back to freedom is through a return to God.  It seems to me this idea overlaps what he presents from American history.  He seems to be using the approach of George Washington to employ (mostly) generic and inclusive religious references and history to inspire and challenge.   

    I've never bought anything from Beck, but I appreciate his efforts.



  25. TomL on August 31, 2010 at 7:55 am

    Scott, PT Barnum has that phrase attributed to him but he didn't coin it. Do your research for a change.



  26. Dimsdale on August 31, 2010 at 8:55 am

    It's called having sponsors, chris, and it is how a radio station/show makes money.  It involves free choice,  Which is why Err America failed so miserably.  On the other hand, in the case of the government, your money is confiscated from you, often before you even get to see it.

     

    It is also government's failed policies that is driving down the value of the dollar and making those gold coins so attractive.



  27. scottm on August 31, 2010 at 9:05 am

    Tom, I did some research and found that some people credit Barnum for the remark and others say it was someone else.  Now you should do some research on the goldline scam that Beck is profitting from, it should open your eyes.  Odonna it's funny that for all that Beck has done to heal racial divide, his rallies are overwhelmingly white.



  28. Steve M on August 31, 2010 at 9:12 am

    So, my post has to do with the Sharpton rally on Saturday and somehow you all got into Glen Beck selling gold?

    Comments LOCKED, thanks for taking us nowhere.



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