Kingmaker, by Arthur Tebbel – Pop Art #91

August 31, 2010 Arthur Tebbel 6 Comments

Dear Art,
I spoke this weekend at Glen Beck’s Restoring Honor rally at the Lincoln Memorial. There was, as I’m sure you heard, a lot of controversy about having a rally on the same day and the same location as Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech. Rev. King was, of course, my uncle. I spoke at the rally as an attempt to diffuse the controversy somewhat and to imbue this movement with the legacy of the civil rights movement. This has drawn a lot of criticism from the left and I’m not sure why. Can you explain to me why people are so upset? Can you tell me what to do about this?
-Alveda King

Alveda,
I think the biggest problem you have is your absolute insistence on being a total bitch about everything. I get that you hate gay people. You compared gay marriage to genocide, a statement that really makes me wonder if you know what genocide means. Like maybe you were absent the week in school when they were focusing on hyperbole and have always mistaken genocide for generally bad idea. At that point we would disagree but I would believe you knew what you were talking about.

Keeping with being a bitch about everything is the way you talked about your Aunt Coretta Scott King. Coretta supported gay marriage so you said, “She was married to him (Martin Luther King, Jr.). I’ve got his DNA. She doesn’t. She didn’t. She’s passed away.” I’m not sure if I’ve got this right. You think that the genetic connection you have to Rev. King (which as a niece is rather slight) says more about your intelligence and credibility than being someone that Rev. King decided to spend all his time with. I can’t even find a picture of you with MLK. I’m certainly not suggesting that you never met him but it doesn’t seem like you spent a lot of time together. I did find a picture of you with George W. Bush. Civil rights leaders loved that guy.

I understand that you have your convictions. I understand that there are a lot of conservative African-Americans that oppose gay marriage; they even say that’s why prop 8 passed in California. I understand that you have to make a living and that there are a lot of right wingers that will pay big money to have black people legitimize their super-white political parties. People are upset because you seem to want to say that the legacy of the civil rights movement is hating gay people and tearing down Barack Obama, something your uncle Martin probably wouldn’t have been thrilled about. What can you do about it? Keep cashing your checks from your conservative think tank and use that money so you don’t have to live near anyone that actually has any need for civil rights leaders.