Beck has said that his "Restoring Honor" rally would "reclaim" the civil rights movement but there is one important part of Martin Luther King's agenda that he doesn't intend to restore.
Beck told Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday that he doesn't agree with the economic agenda of the civil rights movement.
After learning that his rally would be held on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Beck claimed it was simply a coincidence. But the Fox News host soon attempted to co-opt part of King's message.
"This is going to be a moment that you'll never be able to paint people as haters, racists, none of it," Beck said before the rally. "This is a moment, quite honestly, that I think we reclaim the civil rights movement."
Beck appeared on Fox News Sunday following the Sunday rally.
"The civil rights movement always had an agenda beyond just equality, beyond just 'justice,'" noted Chris Wallace. "The full name of the march 47 years ago was 'The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.'"
"John Lewis, then a student, now a congressman, said this at the event, 'We need a bill that will ensure the equality of a maid who earns five dollars a week in the home of a family whose total income is $100,000 a year,'" he continued.
"The civil rights movement was always about an economic agenda," Wallace told Beck.
"Well, you know what Chris?" asked Beck. "I think that is part of it but that's a part of it that I don't agree with."
"The real agenda should be equal justice, an equal shot," said Beck.
Prior to the rally, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart preemptively blasted Beck's upcoming speech.
"I think he's funny," Beck said of Stewart Sunday. "Quite honestly, I think he should write me a check."
