National debate on legacy.
Amid a heated election year, politicians present different ways to honor the slain civil rights leader.
Against the backdrop of a presidential election year, Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday found leaders still wrestling over how to best embody the slain civil rights leader.
In Atlanta, Republicans told a sometimes cool crowd at Ebenezer Baptist Church, King’s onetime church, that they were honoring King’s legacy of service and political empowerment. But Democrats found more favor by highlighting the ways they said the current political and social order calls for more radical action in line with King’s principles.
Monday’s speeches at Ebenezer Baptist were just one slice of the political struggle in Georgia, where Democrats believe they can make further inroads in the Republican controlled state, aided by diverse in-migration and a suburban backlash against President Donald Trump.
Up for re-election this year, Trump sought to stamp his own mark on the commemoration. He and Vice President Mike Pence made a brief visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington. Earlier in the day, Trump sent a tweet noting that it was the third anniversary of his inauguration: “So appropriate that today is also MLK jr DAY. AfricanAmerican Unemployment is the LOWEST in the history of our Country, by far. Also, best Poverty, Youth, and Employment numbers, ever. Great!”
Black unemployment has reached a record low during the Trump administration, but many economists note economic growth since 2009 has driven hiring. The most dramatic drop in black unemployment came under President Barack Obama.
In Columbia, S.C., Democratic presidential candidates hit pause on their recent feuds as they walked shoulder to shoulder through the streets to honor King’s legacy.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has said he decided to run in 2020 following the violence in Charlottesville, Va., said Trump has “given oxygen” to racism. Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged to work toward what she characterized as a more tolerant society, noting “America is ready to move past this dark moment of Donald Trump.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, who shook hands with Warren at Zion Baptist Church, encouraged the crowd to follow King’s legacy and “stand together.”
In Atlanta, Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, appointed just last month, said her upbringing on an Illinois farm was touched by King.
“Dr. King’s call to service, to sacrifice, to put others first, it shaped our home and inspired us to ask what Dr. King asked the world. ‘What are you doing for others?’ ” Loeffler said.
One of Loeffler’s Democratic opponents in a November special election could be the Rev. Raphael Warnock, the current pastor at Ebenezer, which King and his father once led. Warnock, without mentioning Loeffler by name, said that honoring King means more than just voicing “lip service” on one weekend a year.
“Everyone wants to be seen standing where Dr. King stood. That’s fine, you’re welcome,” said Warnock, who could soon announce a Senate run. “But if today you would stand in this holy place, where Dr. King stood, make sure, that come tomorrow, we’ll find you standing where Dr. King stood.”