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Politics & Nation
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Here’s how to host a rally on the Mall
BY ED O'KEEFE The permit issued for Glenn
Beck’s rally Saturday at the Lin- coln Memorial is one of about 3,000 issued annually by the Na- tional Park Service for rallies, cul- tural events, weddings and photo shoots on the Mall and other Washington area national parks and historic sites. Although events are held near
theWhiteHouse, theWashington Monument and the Potomac Riv- er, among other landmarks, the Lincoln Memorial is often the venue of choice for large public gatherings. Examples include marches against the wars in Viet- nam and Iraq, concerts to cele- brate presidential inaugurations, religious ceremonies held by Sikhs, even a rally hosted by the HempCoalition ofD.C. EarlyWashington rallies usu-
ally took place in front of the White House or the U.S. Capitol, said Lucy Barber, author of “Marching on Washington: The Forging of an American Political Tradition.” The first “March onWashing-
ton” occurred in 1894, when a group known as Coxey’s Army marched on the U.S. Capitol to demandmoney for roadconstruc- tion projects. About 300 people marched from Ohio to Washing- ton, where hundreds of others joined them. The group then marched east along Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, where po- lice arrested the two leaders for trespassing on the Capitol grounds,Barber said. That march was followed by
scores of other rallies—for wom- en’s rights and racial equality and against economic discrimination — includingMartin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963. “That becomes the touch- stone that subsequent marches are compared to,” Barber said of the 1963march. Among the lasting effects of
King’s march was the choice of location. Organizers picked the Lincoln Memorial partly to draw lawmakers and other officials fromtheirhome turf, at theWhite House orCapitol,Barber said. Arguably the most effective
rally at theLincolnMemorialnev- er happened, Barber said. In 1941, organizers planning to protest
discrimination against African Americans in the military and defense industry canceled a rally when President Franklin D. Rooseveltagreedtosignanexecu- tive order prohibiting such dis- crimination. The group’s efforts foreshadowedKing’s 1963march. “A march isn’t just about get-
tingpolitical change instantly; it’s often about movement-building and creating a sense of solidarity and, in our lovely virtual world, bringing people into a physical space together and letting them do things together,”Barber said. The Park Service no longer at-
tempts to count the size of assem- bled crowds, but President Obama’s 2009 inauguration, the Million Man March and some Vietnam-era protests are consid- ered among the largest rallies. People looking to hold an event
on the Mall, at Lafayette Square, in Rock Creek Park and other areasoperatedby theParkService can apply up to 48 hours in ad- vance and no earlier than a year before the event. About 60 percent of applica-
tions are for “First Amendment activities,” including Beck’s rally, which are defined as demonstra- tions, religious services and events designed to draw a crowd and express anviewpoint, accord- ing to federal law. A spokesman for Beck would
not comment on the talk show host’s efforts to secure the permit for Saturday’s rally. A $50 application fee is re-
quired to host cultural events, photo shoots andweddings at the sites. Event organizers also may beaskedtopostabondfor staffing and park maintenance costs, the Park Service said. Six Park Service employees re-
view the applications, processing 15 to 30 a day, and the length of an application process varies de- pending on the complexity of the event, the agency said. Even the organizers of estab-
lished national events, including presidential inaugurations and the Smithsonian Institution’s an- nual Folklife Festival, must apply each time. The agency did not say what types of applications it might reject, if any. Application forms and infor-
mationabout the applicationpro- cess are available on the Park Service’sWeb site,
www.nps.gov.
ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.com
KLMNO
SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 2010
XIAOMEI CHEN/THE WASHINGTON POST ShirleyMurray of Chandler, Tex., tours theMall on the day before Glenn Beck’s Rally to RestoreHonor. Beck stakes his claim to King’s dream rallies from A1
tobeassociated withhimafter his death, said Clayborne Carson, a King scholar and historian at StanfordUniversity. Many people in public life
claim to have marched with King at one time or another—andMitt Romney, the former Massachu- setts governor and Republican presidential candidate, once had to retract a claim that his father, who supported King’s views, had done so. Politicians of every stripe have
found in King’s works authority for their positions. Liberals see in his words support for affirmative action.Agroup of black conserva- tives has funded an ad campaign arguing that King was a Republi- can. In 2008, BarackObamaquoted
from the dream speech when he accepted the Democratic presi- dential nomination on the anni- versary of the march. Two de- cades earlier, conservative author Shelby Steele used a fragment
from the speech as the title of his anti-affirmative action book, “The Content of Our Character.” “Once he was gone, he became
a convenient hero because then you could see him as someone who had raised some criticism about American society, but we, as Americans, had taken care of those flaws,” Carson said. “By cel- ebrating him, we could celebrate ourselves, and we don’t have him to be the continuing critic.”
‘Divine providence’
Beck has said that he did not intentionally schedule his Restor- ingHonor rally on the anniversa- ry of the speech but that he con- siders the timing “divine provi- dence.” A niece of King’s has been an occasional guest on Beck’s show on FoxNews and will speak at the rally, which he expects to drawas many as 100,000 people. Beck, an opponent of affirma-
tive action and universal health care, has said King’s message has been “massively perverted.” He recently aired a clip of the Rev. Al Sharpton saying that the dream “was not for one black man in the White House. The dream was to make everything equal in every- body’s house.” “That is not the dream,” Beck
told his audience. “That is a per- version of the dream. We are the people of the civil rights move- ment. We are the ones that must stand for civil and equal rights. Equal rights. Justice. Equal jus- tice.Not special justice, not social justice, but equal justice. We are the inheritors and the protectors of the civil rightsmovement.They are perverting it and they are doing it intentionally. There can- not be equal stuff and equal hous- es.”
Roger Wilkins, who was at the
1963 march, said Beck has no right to link his political causes with the struggle for racial inte- gration. Because his uncle Roy was then president of theNAACP, Wilkins sat in a VIP section that put him close enough to hear gospel singer Mahalia Jackson call out, “Tell them your dream, Martin.” Before a racially integrated
crowd of tens of thousands, King launched into soaring oratory abouthowthe nation’s promise of equal citizenship could unite Americans. Wilkins said Beck “doesn’t
sound like a person who is a uniter.” He said the political causes supported by Beck and the “tea party” movement are con- trary to important parts of King’s message, including the crusade against poverty and social in- equality. “This isagimmicktogetalot of headlines,” Wilkins said. “That’s not the spirit that I saw some 40 years ago.” Other critics of the rally in-
clude Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, who has called Beck’s choice of day and place for the rally “insulting.” King’s son, Martin Luther King III, gently disassociated his father
Today’s rallies
Tere are several events taking place today that will involve rolling street closures and parking restrictions.
Students Finding Solutions/Generation Next March and rally, 8a.m. to 2p.m.
Reclaim the Dream March and rally, 1p.m. to 3p.m.
Restoring Honor Rally, 10 a.m. to 1p.m.
Road closures 0 MILE
FARRAGUT NORTH
FARRAGUT WEST
FOGGY BOTTOM- GWU
EST.
Restoring Honor rally
Lincoln Mem.
Future site of MLK Jr.
Nat’l Mem.
White House
Wash. Mon.
WWII Mem.
Tidal Basin
Jefferson Mem.
CONSTITUTION AVE. The Mall
SMITHSONIAN INDEPENDENCE AVE.
Street closures 8a.m. to 3p.m.
395 SOURCE: Metropolitan Police Dept. MARY KATE CANNISTRA/THE WASHINGTON POST
l As Glenn Beck’s rally nears, cable networks are taking different paths on coverage. C1.
from Beck’s event in an op-ed article this week in TheWashing- ton Post. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), chairman of the Demo- cratic Congressional Campaign, has described Beck’s rally as “bla- tantly political.”
Promoting the rally Beck says the event is not about
politics. No elected officials are scheduled to speak. No political signs are permitted.He has some- times described the rally as an opportunity to honor those who have served in theU.S. military. Promoting the rally in June, he
said: “Aswecreate history togeth- er, 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 dis- torted and lost and we say, ‘We bought it when he first said it,’ it’s time to restore and to finish it.” On Thursday, on Beck’s Fox
show, Alveda King compared the criticism she has faced for agree- ing to speak at the rally to the threats faced by her uncle and other civil rights leaders. “We have to have courage.We
have to be prepared,” Alveda said. “I say to the naysayer, to the critics who say, ‘Alveda King has no right; she is hijacking the dream,’ I have the dream in my genes.” Beck replied: “Doesn’t every-
body have the right to dream?” Carson and another historian
Open Sun 12-5
King Street @I-395 1-866-BUY-LEXUS
said Beck’s claim to the mantle of the civil rights movement stems from a simplification of the causes for which King fought. Although King is best remem- bered for the struggle for racial justice, they said, he also fought for social justice and was deeply critical of many aspects of Ameri- can society, particularly of the nation’s treatment of poor people. (In one recent show, Beck warned his viewers to run from churches that promoted “social justice,” which he likens to socialism.) “Leaving aside the debate over
eLindsay.com
the tea party and race, one obvi- ous difference is that the civil rightsmovementwaspushingthe government to intervene in ev-
eryday life to protect the rights of African Americans, whereas Beck’s movement wants the gov- ernment to stop interfering,” said Stephen Tuck, a historian at Ox- ford University who has studied the civil rights movement. But Brendan Steinhauser, who
is helping to organize tea party groups to support Beck’s rally, said he draws inspiration from King and the civil rights move- ment. “The 1963 march was such a
beautiful gathering of people in nonviolent protest to assert their rights under the Constitution,” said Steinhauser, a campaign di- rector for the group Freedom- Works. “There are parallels in terms of the tea party as a mass social movement that seeks to bring us back to our founding principles under the Constitu- tion.We’re here to do that, and it’s our First Amendment right to do that.”
Alveda King, a conservative
activist,wastooyoungto hear her uncle speak at the march 47 years ago. But she finds commonalities between that event and the gath- ering Beck is promoting. “Glenn and I had been having
many conversations while all of this was evolving, so it’s not staged. It’s not contrived,” she said in an interview. “You hear Glenn say all the time [that] we are one race—the human race.” Sharpton, who as a teenager
worked with some of King’s lieu- tenants, plans to lead a march that is to end near the site of the Beck rally. His event is part of an annual commemoration of King’s iconic speech, and Sharpton in- tends to issue a call to reform education and “reclaim” the dream, which he said Beck is trying to “hijack.” King “came to ask for a strong
federal government,” Sharpton said. “If some of these folk read the speech, they may understand that theydon’twantto celebrate a dream they haven’t really read.”
thompsonk@washpost.com
Staff writer Amy Gardner contributed to this report.
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Students Finding Solutions march starts here
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