It was a tale of two rallies.
Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck and conservative heroine Sarah Palin spoke Saturday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to thousands of tea-party supporters in the name of upholding traditional Christian values.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Al Sharpton led political and human-rights activists in a march from Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington — the nation’s first black high school — to the in-progress Martin Luther King Jr. memorial. King gave his “I Have a Dream” speech 47 years ago Saturday.
And while throngs of students flooded the dorms during move-in, a few opted to ditch the campus to join the crowds filling the streets of Washington.
Early Saturday morning, two Black Student Union officials left College Park to follow Sharpton’s marchers. Sophomores Nzinga Shury, a communication major, and Kayla Johnson, a chemistry major, encountered tea-party supporters as they walked among protesters in Sharpton’s much smaller event, called “Reclaiming the Dream.”
“I felt very uplifted. It was a great experience to be a part of,” Shury said. “There was such a positive aura. I feel inspired to go out and ‘reclaim the dream.'”
Elsewhere in the District, College Republicans President Sarah Martin stood listening to Beck, Palin and King’s niece, Alveda King.
“Instead of it being a ‘tea-party protest,’ it was simply a gathering of people who are both disappointed in our current situation but hopeful in our future,” said Martin, a junior communication major.
But few other undergraduates kept them company — a fact this university’s NAACP chapter President Malcolm Whitfield blamed not just on the events coinciding with fall move-in but also on this university’s culture.
“If we say Jay-Z is going to Stamp [Student Union], with one week to plan, 800 people will come,” he said. “If we have a protest six months from now, I doubt that number will come out. … We wait too long.”
Whitfield said he did not know anyone from his chapter who attended the Sharpton march, and he was too busy with move-in to attend.
“There’s not much of a need in many people’s minds for advancement anymore, unfortunately,” he said.
Former Community Roots co-President Kelechi Agbakwuru said a few students from Community Roots, an activist group that aims to unite ethnic groups at the university, tried to gather members to travel together to Sharpton’s rally, but plans never materialized.
Jazz Lewis, Community Roots’ other former president, said he wanted to go Saturday to interview tea-party supporters on video but could not attend because of a scheduling conflict.
The students at both rallies said the day’s events inspired them to become more civically engaged and bring that energy back to the university.
“Today, more than fun, it was about creating a spirit of community,” Martin said. “Beck really stressed the importance of looking toward each other and to a higher power to find meaning in our lives, rather than the government.”
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