Last week, after speaking in Washington, Glenn felt a shift in his attitude about the direction the freedom movement is headed. He had conversations with members of the Black Robed Regiment in the days that followed that confirmed his new found optimism.
One of the individuals Glenn spoke with was Ken Hutcherson — who Glenn describes as one of the most amazing men he's ever met.
"I need you to get to know him pretty darn quickly," Glenn told his radio audience this morning, putting him in the same category with other great leaders of faith he's met like Billy Graham.
"He's something special. You're going to love Ken Hutcherson," Pat added.
Ken Hutcherson grew up in the south during the Civil Rights movement — not the best place to be if you're a young, black male. Glenn went on to explain that Ken hated MLK — he was too peaceful and Hutcherson was angry. For much of his youth, Ken was more of the Black Panther's side of the argument.
"He didn't get it at all," Glenn explained, "but then had a profound change and has spent his life trying to tell the truth and be a man of love. He's remarkable."
Ken, who is now a pastor, has devoted his life to teaching love and spreading the word of God. Glenn also explained that Hutcherson has severe, stage four bone cancer.
"This guy was supposed to be dead five years ago," Glenn said. "He has stage four bone cancer…he's riddled with cancer and doesn't have a lot of time. But as I was talking to him and as we got to know each other, I asked him to try to help me put some things together. And really after just a couple of hours, I looked at him and I said, you're the guy. You're the guy. And didn't know he had cancer at the time."
Glenn went on to explain that it wasn't until the next day, when he was speaking at the Capitol, that he realized how sick he was. Glenn realized that it's because Hutcherson is out of time that he is so willing to stand and speak the truth plainly and clearly.
"I don't think we have a lot of time either," Glenn explained. "And he's not going to waste what could literally be his last breath positioning. He's not going to waste his possible last breath telling you something that is for, what, fame? For money? For power? He's gone soon. He's gone. You can say whatever you want. He's not going to listen to it, he's not going to listen to bull-crap, and he's not going to tell you bull-crap. He's going to tell you exactly the way it is."
Glenn has said for the last few days that it's time for Americans to start leading the movement — that the leader they're waiting for isn't coming. They're the leader they're waiting for. And it's people like Ken Hutcherson, Rabbi Lapin, David Barton, and Alveda King who have helped him reach this point.
Alveda King was one of the first, and she'll join Glenn tonight at 5pm ET on the Glenn Beck Program for a Civil Rights bootcamp. Glenn recalled the first time he met the niece of MLK. He was on set in Washington D.C. before Restoring Honor.
"I had the faith, hope and charity — I had those three icons that I had painted with Paula Hawking and we had them up on the set. And she walked in, she said, I just love you. And I said, well, thank you, Ms. King. And she said, you know my Uncle Martin, he said that was the answer. She pointed to those. And I said, 'faith, hope and charity?' She said 'faith, hope and love. That's what charity is, love. Faith, hope and love.' And she said, 'You know what the answer is.' And I said, 'I don't know how to get there.' She said, 'He didn't, either, for a long time. None of us do'."
Glenn went on to explain that after Restoring Honor, Restoring Courage, and Restoring Love, all the pieces are there for the next step.
"This audience has done all of the pieces. Now it is time to put it into play and to put it into action," Glenn said. "Now is the time to link arms and go for a march, and we are putting them together. And a man who is literally on his last leg, who has no time for BS, and I will tell you — he told me a story. He said, he said, I had — I had somebody that I knew — I'll let him tell story, but he had somebody he knew try to mess with him because of his skin color and he said — he went up to them and he said, you know what you don't do? You know what you never do? You never mess with a man who just isn't afraid. And I thought, boy, oh, boy, is that the truth. And he has nothing to fear," Glenn said of Hutcherson.
"Courage is contagious," Glenn continued, "but you have to know exactly why you do the things you do — I think you know — and then you have to know what to do. And that's where it's tricky. Because in this world with all of the legal games that they play, you need to have some big‑ass attorneys on your side."
"In the coming days I'm going to be asking you if you have an attorney firm and you are willing to dedicate your life, your fortune, and your sacred honor and you are willing to help us navigate the waters that will need to be navigated by the right Reverend and those who follow him, if you can help them and if you can help the American people know exactly where the lines are and what to do, so we are always doing the right thing. And if you are prepared to stand," Glenn said.
"And I know a lot of people don't understand this, but you are fighting for Civil Rights. It is the bill of civil rights," he continued. "Everything that is in the Bill of Rights, that's what's being violated. Those, that's all that Martin Luther King was looking for. What they've done is they've turned it into special rights. But that's not what Martin Luther King was asking. Martin Luther King was asking, apply that document to me. Apply those rights to me. And that's all you're asking for."
Glenn went on to explain that Civil Rights is the reason he and Bill Maher will agree on certain issues. But it's because the language is difference that the media makes such a big deal about it. It all comes down to freedom, you just have to understand their language: Constitutional Rights, Civil Rights, and the Bill of Rights — the right and left may label them differently, but on the fundamental issues it's all about freedom.
"There's a difference in our language but not a difference in the meaning. We describe them as constitutional rights; they describe them as civil rights," Glenn said. "When we start speaking their language and you know what we mean and we know what they mean, which is those rights that are guaranteed and given to every man by God, when we start defending those things and start speaking the universal language and we start doing with peace and love, I'm telling you the world's going to change, and you look out. Because we are not going to sit down. I'm going out swinging. I am not going to sit down."