August 28th...

I won't focus too much on the Beck rally, other than to say that Sharpton's claim that King called on the Federal government to "ensure equality" is patently false. King called on the Federal government to recognize that the people of this nation had the same "inherent" rights granted by their Creator, and that nothing in government should interfere with those rights... things like race, religion or gender (among others). King wanted the institutionalized "racial" segments of our society removed, so that each of us could succeed (or fail) based on our own, individual merits and abilities.

King fought against the American status quo of "white versus black" that had existed since Reconstruction, but his followers have taken the message full-swing and now see it as a "black versus white" struggle, where the people of color in this nation must still be treated differently (which was always the case in the past), but instead of marginalizing the minorities, the majority must now be marginalized... be it the white, Christian, conservative majority of America or not.

With the implementation of affirmative action by Kennedy, but the hesitation by mainstream America to adopt it's original intent (that race or creed never be a factor in employment consideration), I think King wanted that injustice corrected by the Feds... but when President Johnson gave a speech in June of '65 calling for greater scope and depth to the policy, I think the process went too far (way too far). In that speech, Johnson said: "To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough, not enough." I disagree 100%, because anything more is just discrimination of another group... as in Johnson's (and, later, Carter's) rewriting of the affirmative action policies to ensure that a designated percentage of government employees and contractor's employees were of minority status regardless of ability or qualifications, to the exclusion of those more able or qualified. That may be the goal of Johnson's vision, but it is antithetical to King's vision, in which only the content of a man's character is measured, and never his race or religion (or gender).

King (and Kennedy, and modern conservatives) had it right... no consideration for employment opportunity should be made on the basis of race, religion or sex. Sharpton and the others that protested Beck's rally have it wrong, and have forgotten the message that King died to promote.