Nearly all the crowd was white. Many had T-shirts supporting different tea-party organizations, a grassroots movement which (1)_____________________. But Beck's rally was not the only one laying claim to the Martin Luther King Jr. legacy. Civil rights groups marched and sang in a rival event called "Reclaim the Dream", that took place at a local high school.
Clifton Arrington, who attended King's "I Have a Dream" speech 47 years ago, led a group of marchers from the New Jersey-based rights group, People's Organization for Progress. "I think there needs to be a lot more work to be done in the United States of America and freedom and justice is not what it should be for all people. That's why (2)_____________________."
He had no comment on the other rally, but another participant, Tehuti Imhotep was angry. "If a wolf put on sheep's clothing that does not mean that it is no longer a wolf. (3)_____________________. So if you disguise racism of today in another way, like Beck, it's the same form of racism." Many at the "Reclaim the Dream" rally felt the tea-party movement started in opposition to Barack Obama, the first African American U.S. president.
Protesters on the National Mall also put up a sign with the word "dream", pointing to Martin Luther King Jr., and the word "nightmare", pointing to Glenn Beck. It caused several boos and arguments from participants going to and from the "Restoring Honor" rally.