War in Gaza, election factor into MLK events
As communities nationwide celebrate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday this weekend with events ranging from parades to prayer services, some people are taking a cue from the slain civil rights icon's history of protest to demonstrate against the war in Gaza and draw attention to the looming U.S. presidential election.
The Monday holiday also marks 100 days since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched an attack in southern Israel that killed some 1,200 people and resulted in about 240 taken hostage. Since then, more than 100 Israelis remain kidnapped and more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, as global health organizations have warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis there.
Perhaps the biggest organized event of the weekend in the U.S. was held in the nation’s capital Saturday — the March on Washington for Gaza, co-hosted by the American Muslim Task Force on Palestine, comprising some of the largest Muslim organizations in the U.S., along with antiwar and racial justice groups.
Thousands of people rallied near the White House to call for an end to Israeli military action in Gaza, with some holding signs questioning President Joe Biden’s viability as a presidential candidate because of his staunch support for Israel in the war against Hamas.
March organizers called on Biden to demand a permanent cease-fire and an end to the violence against civilians in Gaza and the West Bank. They also called for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners and an end to “American unconditional financial support for the Israeli military,” according to
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, AMTP media coordinator and deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The title of Saturday’s march evoked the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, at which King delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That history, as well as King's vocal opposition to the U.S. role in the Vietnam War toward the end of his life, was a guiding factor for the organizers.
King's daughter, Bernice King, has said her father was against antisemitism and also would have opposed the bombing of Gaza.
“There is an opportunity for us to have a real breakthrough and get to some genuine conversations and actions that can allow people to co-exist in an area of the world,” Bernice King said in a recent interview.
Observed federally since 1986, the holiday occurs on the third Monday of January, which this year happens to be the Rev. King’s actual birthday. Born in 1929, the minister would have been 95. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act and King’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Prominent Democrats will be commemorating the holiday in South Carolina, now the first state in the Democratic Party’s reshuffled presidential primary schedule.
The NAACP is hosting Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black person to hold the office, at the State House in Columbia. Harris visited the city in November to officially file paperwork putting Biden on the presidential ballot. House Minority
Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black leader of a party in Congress, will speak at an interfaith prayer service. The day's events will center on a theme of “Ballots for Freedom, Ballots for Justice, Ballots for Change!”
For many, the holiday will be an opportunity to counter the recent backlash over efforts at companies and universities to implement diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, will announce Monday a national campaign to sustain DEI measures. This comes after he led a demonstration against last week’s resignation of Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s first Black president. Sharpton will also be hosting the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Breakfast. Members of King’s family will be in attendance.