On Saturday, August 28th, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin will headline a rally here in Washington, DC entitled “Restoring Honor.” According to media reports, event organizers expect 300,000 people to show up to celebrate his vision of America — a country that leaves behind the poor, one that turns a blind eye to the plight of people of color, and one that permanently relegates LGBT citizens to second-class status. Beck’s unabashed racism, homophobia, and conspiracy-laden show is a mainstay on Fox News (despite his steady loss of advertisers, as the general public quickly tired of his paranoid ravings). Beck has, however, become a hero to and the leader of the Tea Party movement… And it remains to be seen whether his supporters will turn out in full force this weekend.

(To make things easier, event organizers provided this handy-dandy guide about how to explore DC without accidentally encountering people of color!)

Glenn Beck will always come to my mind as the man who said, “I didn’t think I could hate victims faster than the families of the 9/11 victims until New Orleans…there is only a small percentage of scumbags that stayed in New Orleans that are getting all the attention and spoiling it for everyone.” So it is with the most terrifying irony that his rally will take place at the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of MLK Jr’s speech and the weekend of the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

And then there’s Sarah Palin, who last week came out in support of Doctor Laura’s use of the N word on the radio and against her resignation. She tweeted, “Dr.Laura:don't retreat...reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence"isn't American,not fair")”. Once again, Sarah Palin rushes to defend bigotry and racism as American. It might be her dream of America, but it isn’t mine — and I’m guessing it isn’t yours either.

Finally, in a failed attempt to bring an ounce of legitimacy to the event, Glenn Beck has invited Alveda King, the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. to speak at the event. Using the credibility of her uncle’s name, she is an overtly anti-choice and anti-LGBT crusader. She proclaims that abortion is a “tool of genocide against…black people” and refers to gay marriage as leading to the extinction of the human race [1].

This kind of large-scale “Rally for Intolerance” cannot go unchallenged. This Saturday, I will join hundreds of civil rights activists from the National Action Network, the NAACP, and many other progressive groups to stand up for MLK Jr.’s real American Dream.

Join us as we stand up for the dream that our children “will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.“

At 11am on Saturday, we will meet at Dunbar High School, 1301 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington DC and march to the King Memorial. I hope to see you there!

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[1] "Dr. King's Niece Calls Gay Marriage 'Genocide'" (VIDEO) | TPM LiveWire. 10 Aug. 2010.