MLK SPEAKERS RIP ‘RACIST’ PREZ
President Trump was the target of scathing bipartisan attacks at yesterday’s 48th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast, with a crowd of 1,000 repeatedly cheering bitter criticism of the president as a “racist bully.”
“We face the challenge of an openly racist president of the United States,” said U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, seen as a likely 2020 challenger to Trump.
“This is our time in history. It’s not the one we hoped for, but the one thrust upon us — and we are ready for it,” she told the crowd of public officials, clergy, civil rights advocates and others. “Donald Trump is a racist bully, but we do not back down, we do not shut up and we fight back . ... These fights are tough, but you don’t get what you don’t fight for.”
Warren’s comments came days after Trump’s controversial disparagement of Haiti, El Salvador and African nations. Trump has been blasted by Democrats since the remarks, but most Republicans have stayed quiet.
Yesterday, after speakers were asked to cite a favorite quote by King, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker chose, “There comes a time when silence becomes betrayal.”
Baker went on to recount how, when his late mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, professional caregivers who were often Haitians and blacks accomplished what her own family could not.
“They were magnificent in every way,” Baker said. “They were kind, thoughtful, generous, positive . ... To those who would demean, insult or bring down anyone because they are different, I have one simple message: This country is great because of its diversity, not in spite of it.”
The annual breakfast honors King, the civil rights icon and former minister at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury who was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., 50 years ago this April.
“We are all here today because we know Martin Luther King had a dream,” U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey said. “But Donald Trump also has a dream. He has a dream that one day our nation will be surrounded by a wall built with bigotry and hate. He has a dream that one day our nation will judge you by virtue of your race, your creed, or your country of origin.”