The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
King Day comes amid a stark political divide
Civil rights groups have new anxiety about Trump administration, highlighted by clash with Lewis.
The traditional Martin Luther King Jr. holiday celebration arrives with new anxiety among civil rights groups about an incoming Trump administration and its commitment to working with them and protecting voting rights.
Again, the nation’s eyes will be on Atlanta today, searching for signs of unity — or discord — in what has been one of the most divisive political seasons in a generation or more.
The divide was stark this weekend as U.S. Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat and a King lieutenant during the civil rights movement, said he would not attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Lewis said he does not consider Trump’s presidency “legitimate” because of U.S. intelligence agency reports that Russian hackers acted to steer the election to Trump.
Using Twitter, Trump fired back calling Lewis a do-nothing con-
gressman who is “talk, talk, talk — no action.” Trump said Lewis should worry more about his Atlanta district, which Trump described as “crime infested” and “falling apart.”
Trump on Sunday also canceled plans to tour the African American History and Culture on Washington’s Mall today because of scheduling issues, according to news reports.
Many Atlantans rejected Trump’s characterization of Lewis’ district, which includes many of the city’s icons, including Coca-Cola, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and The King Center.
Republicans, including Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Sunday urged Lewis to honor Trump’s electoral victory and help unite the country under the incoming president. Trump’s incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus sounded a similar call, asking President Barack Obama to tell Lewis and other Democrats to stop questioning the legitimacy of the election result.
“I think it’s incredibly disappointing and I think it’s irresponsible,” Priebus said. “I think putting the United States down across the world is not something a responsible person does.”
Such politics is likely to be top of mind during today’s service. While Trump is not sending a surrogate, Republican U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, a regular attendee, will be at the Ebenezer Baptist Church for the King Day service. Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who Trump defeated in the GOP’s presidential nomination, will attend.
Lewis will not attend the Ebenezer ceremony, where King once preached. But many Democratic politicians are on the bill, most prominent among them will be Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016.
Civil rights advocates say today’s service should include calls to mobilize to protect civil rights gains.
Janice Mathis, executive director of the National Council of Negro Women, said the nation has been through moments of division before and survived.
“We will have to be part of that grown-up element to survive whatever Trumpism is,” she said. “I don’t mean that we need to be complacent, We need to press our point. But America is bigger than Donald Trump.”
This will mark the final MLK Day celebration of Obama’s administration, the nation’s first black president who was sworn into office using King’s Bible. Trump, a Republican, will be sworn in as the nation’s 45th president on Friday.
But already the incoming Trump administration has found itself at odds with African-American lawmakers and civil rights groups, most prominently over his choice of Alabama Republican U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions to be the nation’s next attorney general. Lewis testified against Sessions during his confirmation hearings, characterizing Sessions as an advocate of voting restrictions that depress minority voter participation. Sunday evening, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, in her final speech as head of the Justice Department, said worries of difficult days ahead under a Trump administration should be a call for action.
Lynch spoke Sunday at Birmingham, Alabama’s 16th Street Baptist Church where four girls were killed in a KKK bombing in 1963. In the speech for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lynch echoed King’s words after the bombing to not give into despair.
“We are Americans and we have always pushed forward,” Lynch said.