While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a number of values that align with modern-day conservatism, many of his contemporaries, proteges, and relatives continue to insist that his legacy should be off-limits to the GOP.
For her part, King’s youngest daughter recently weighed in on President Donald Trump’s decisive victory earlier this month, noting that she is “glad” he will be inaugurated on the holiday established to honor her father. But the reason for her reaction is not rooted in support for the Trump agenda:
According to The Hill:
“I’m glad that if it was going to happen, it happened on the King holiday, because Dr King is still speaking to us,” Bernice King said.
The Independent wrote that Bernice King “sees the January 20 event as a wake-up call for the country and an opportunity to stand up to the incoming administration’s charged agenda items.”
Bernice King had been “excited” about the idea of seeing Vice President Harris on MLK Day and “hoped the U.S. would elect someone who embodied the values her father did.”
Of course, not all of King’s relatives feel the same way. His niece, Alveda King, has long been a vocal Trump supporter.
Mark Cuban has no place to say what he did. @realDonaldTrump, I’m standing with you! pic.twitter.com/FlObQk7sTa
— Alveda C. King, Ph.D. (@AlvedaCKing) October 31, 2024
We still fight the Civil Rights fight…
It just looks different.
👼🏻👼🏼👼🏽👼🏾👼🏿 pic.twitter.com/f9pshSQqvP
— Alveda C. King, Ph.D. (@AlvedaCKing) November 22, 2024
— Alveda C. King, Ph.D. (@AlvedaCKing) November 13, 2024
Bernice King’s remarks came on the heels of a dispute on Capitol Hill in which prominent far-left Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) cautioned Republicans against even uttering the civil rights leader’s name.
As MSN reported:
Pressley, toward the end of her remarks, told Republicans to “please keep Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s name out of your mouths.”
“Your perversion of his words and his mission,” Pressley said, “when his children have asked you to stop invoking his name and perverting his work when he was a proud and unapologetic Black man fighting for equality for Black Americans and all marginalized people.
“So you all are entitled to your opinions,” she added, “but not a denial of the facts.”
Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., is an original co-sponsor of the bill and a staunch believer that DEI programs are a “sweeping attack against equality.” He believes the legislation would protect “individuals’ rights, liberties and freedoms.”
“I appreciate my Democrat colleague for exemplifying exactly the kind of oppression of freedoms that we’re referencing,” Higgins said, in responding to Pressley. “How about we’ll quote whoever we want to quote? How about that’s my First Amendment right?”
Here’s a full clip of her remarks:
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