By Michael Hubbard of MikeOnDallas.com
“We are on the right side of history! We are on the side of individual freedoms and liberties and, dammit, we will reclaim the civil rights moment. We will take that movement — because we were the people who did it in the first place.”
Glenn Beck, May 26, 2010
“When you start saying you’re going to reclaim the civil rights movement that’s not even coded, that’s a blatant attempt to highjack a movement that changed America”
Al Sharpton, August 27, 2010
“Had there been more very worthy applicants in my district, then I probably wouldn’t have given it to the relatives.”
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, August 29, 2010
All three of the quotes listed above are related to top stories from this past weekend…… The Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington D.C., the Al Sharpton led Glenn Beck counter rally and reports of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson awarding scholarship money provided by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to several relatives and the children of a top aide, which is a violation of foundation requirements.
The Glenn Beck/Al Sharpton story is interesting but I believe totally irrelevant. Why do so many Black folks care what Glenn Beck says? If you don’t like Glenn Beck and what he stands for don’t listen to his talk show. When will African-Americans stop reacting to everything?
There are more than enough issues to deal with, but we get so distracted with what other people say and do that we can’t come close to formulating solutions. There are lessons to be learned from Glenn Beck and the Tea Party movement about setting agendas, organizing and towing the company line.
But African-Americans would have to first come up with a company line. It would probably take years to fight over who would be in charge of coming up with the company line, then we would have to fight a few more years over what items would go on the agenda, and then………….well you get the idea.
As I initially stated the Glenn Beck/Al Sharpton story was interesting, but in my opinion not very important. What really got my blood boiling was the Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson story. The good congresswoman has seen fit to award scholarship money, for several years, to her relatives and the children of one of her top aides. Monies that were intended for children that reside in her district.
How did the congresswoman respond? By saying that if there were more qualified applicants in her district she would not have had to give the money to relatives. I don’t think anyone at the Glenn Beck rally made any statements as incendiary as that one!!
For those of you who don’t know the 30th Congressional District of Texas, Congresswoman Johnson’s district, includes Downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Oak Lawn, Old East Dallas, Pleasant Grove, and South Oak Cliff, all of Balch Springs, DeSoto, Hutchins, Lancaster, and Wilmer, and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Ferris, Glenn Heights and Ovilla. Qualifying for one of these scholarships must be like trying to get into the Ivy League.
Well, not so much. Students simply need to have a 2.5 GPA, reside or go to school in the district of the Congressional Black Caucus member that is awarding the scholarship, not be a relative and submit an essay.
It doesn’t matter what Glenn Beck and the Tea Party movement does. We are doing a terrific job sabotaging our own progress in this country. This recent incident involving the Congresswoman is a prime example.
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