Glenn Beck at the Movies
A relative of mine , a follower of Glenn Beck, asked one of my children if they knew that Glenn Beck had been harassed while trying to watch a movie at an outdoor park. The incident occurred at Bryant Park while Beck and his family were viewing an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Beck alleges that someone intentionally spilled wine on his wife and another person heckled his daughter. What gets lost by his followers are his “lynching” comments as reflected below.
Beck’s additional comments are interesting. He is quoted as saying, “These people were some of the most hateful people I’ve ever seen. All I wanted to do was watch a movie in the park. I have a right to watch and enjoy a movie in the park,” Beck says. “If I had suggested ‘Does anybody have a rope? Because there’s a tree here. You could just lynch me.’ I think there would’ve been a couple in the crowd that would’ve.”
I agree that Beck and his family are entitled to watch and enjoy a movie in the park. However, his lynching comments are disrespectful to the many African-Americans who were terrorized since the days of slavery with whippings, beating and lynchings by whites. His comments exhibit a serious lack of knowledge of, and insensitivity to history. Beck has no concept regarding the truth about race in America.
Even after the physical ”lynchings” ended, people of color have been harmed through structures and institutions put in place by those who are privileged and in power. Housing opportunities were non-existent for African-Americans because of the discriminatory lending practices of the FHA. Even today, African-Americans and Hispanics bear the brunt of predatory lending practices and the foreclosure crisis. Think about it. Where you live determines your access to housing, safety, jobs, education and health care. Our criminal justice system has been tilted so that black and brown young men fill our prisons in disproportionate numbers to their respective populations. Read Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow for a more in-depth analysis. Access to health care is limited and disparities in the treatment of people of color remains an issue. Beck states that the people in the park were some of the most hateful people. Does he listen to his own show? Tim Wise points out that in Beck’s comments around the time of the passage of health care reform Beck claimed that our President’s health care plan was a way to get African-Americans reparations. Not only is his comment hateful, but ludicrous. Imagine someone wanting to get seriously ill so that she or he can collect on it.
This is a time when one needs to take off the lens in which he or she views the world, and instead looks through the lens of “the other”.
