Walter E. Fauntroy , pastor emeritus of Washington’s New Bethel Baptist Church, was Washington, D.C.’s, first non-voting delegate to Congress (1971-1991), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, one of the organizers of the March on Washington in 1963 that featured Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, one of the organizers of the Selma to Montgomery march, and many other activities related to civil rights. He is also known as someone who would “regularly burst into song” if given half an opportunity (or not), such as “at the end of an address.”
The song he is singing now, however, makes him the latest and perhaps the saddest exhibit of how far the remnants of the old civil rights movement have fallen from the values that animated that movement and led it to success. Speaking at the National Press Club yesterday promoting a “new coalition of conscience” to oppose Glen Beck’s gathering at the Lincoln Memorial tomorrow (the anniversary of King’s famous speech), Fauntroy said
“We are going to take on the barbarism of war, the decadence of racism, and the scourge of poverty, that the Ku Klux — I meant to say the Tea Party.... You all forgive me, but I — you have to use them interchangeably....”
Fauntroy said right-wing conservatives have “declared war on the civil rights movement of the 1960s....”
“I don’t want you to think I’m angry,” Fauntroy said. “[But] when this right-wing conservative exclusionary group comes to highjack our movement, we have got to respond. And I’m looking forward to that Coalition of Conscience, in defense of jobs and freedom for women.”
I have a suggestion for ABC News, from whom the above is quoted, and all other news organizations covering Beck’s gathering tomorrow and whatever “Coalition of Conscience” that emerges in opposition: do a survey — formal if possible, informal if not — of the members of each group that consists of one question,
Do you believe the federal and state government should treat all Americans without regard to race?
For respondents who appear puzzled by the “without regard” concept, the following explication should be offered: it means no agency of government can discriminate against or give preferential treatment to any American based on race.
How do you think the answers of the Tea Party followers of Glenn Beck and the “Coalition of Conscience” followers of Walter Fauntroy would compare? Which would be closer to Martin Luther King’s dream?
If the Glenn Becks have “highjacked” that dream, it’s only because the Walter Fauntroys have abandoned it. [Query: can all the people like me, who agreed with King's dream then and agree with it now, be said to have “highjacked” it?]
