Lethbridge Herald

TENSION on MLK Day

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY MARKED BY TRUMP CRITICISM, PLEDGES TO FIGHT RACISM

- Jonathan Landrum Jr. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS — ATLANTA

Two of Martin Luther King Jr.’s children and the pastor of his historic Atlanta church marked the national King holiday Monday with sharp denunciati­ons of President Donald Trump —

Martin Luther King Jr.’s children and the pastor of an Atlanta church where he preached decried disparagin­g remarks President Donald Trump is said to have made about African countries, while protests between Haitian immigrants and Trump supporters broke out near the president’s Florida resort Monday, the official federal holiday honouring King.

At gatherings across the nation, activists, residents and teachers honoured the late civil rights leader on what would have been his 89th birthday and ahead of the 50th anniversar­y of his assassinat­ion in Memphis, Tennessee. In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day with events aimed at coming to terms with its own history of slavery and by welcoming descendant­s of former slaves into the tribe.

Trump marked his first King holiday as president buffeted by claims that during a meeting with senators on immigratio­n last week, he used a vulgarity to describe African countries and questioned the need to allow more Haitians into the U.S. He also is said to have asked why the country couldn’t have more immigrants from nations like Norway.

In Washington, King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, criticized Trump, saying, “When a president insists that our nation needs more citizens from white states like Norway, I don’t even think we need to spend any time even talking about what it says and what it is.”

He added, “We got to find a way to work on this man’s heart.”

In Atlanta, King’s daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, told hundreds of people who packed the pews of the Ebenezer Baptist Church that they “cannot allow the nations of the world to embrace the words that come from our president as a reflection of the true spirit of America.”

“We are one people, one nation, one blood, one destiny ... All of civilizati­on and humanity originated from the soils of Africa,” Bernice King said. “Our collective voice in this hour must always be louder than the one who sometimes does not reflect the legacy of my father.”

Church pastor the Rev. Raphael Warnock also took issue with Trump’s campaign slogan to “Make America Great Again.”

Warnock said he thinks America “is already great ... in large measure because of Africa and African people.”

Down the street from Trump’s Mar-aLago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Haitian protesters and Trump supporters yelled at each other from opposing corners. Trump was staying at the resort for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Video posted by WPEC-TV showed several hundred proHaiti demonstrat­ors yelling from one side of the street Monday while waving Haitian flags. The Haitians and their supporters shouted “Our country is not a shithole,” referring to comments the president reportedly made. Trump has said that is not the language he used.

The smaller pro-Trump contingent waved American flags and campaign posters and yelled “Trump is making America great again.” One man could be seen telling the Haitians to leave the country. Police kept the sides apart.

The Cherokee Nation tribe— one of the country’s largest — marked the King holiday on Monday with calls to service and by confrontin­g its slaveownin­g past. A federal court ruled last year that the descendant­s of former slaves, known as Freedmen, had the same rights to tribal citizenshi­p, voting, health care and housing as blood-line Cherokees.

“The time is now to deal with it and talk about it,” said Cherokee Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr.

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