Today the nation honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after what would have been his 97th birthday.
King was born on Jan. 15, 1929. At age 39, he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968.
The minister and tireless Civil Rights advocate is the only African American recognized with a federal holiday.
While King is primarily remembered for his nonviolent protests against racial segregation and discrimination, he also championed for the poor and called for improved protections for workers.
In a statement released on Monday, Jan. 19, his daughter Bernice King warned the nation is at a pivotal crossroads as ICE agents roam American cities, a growing number of people struggle with poverty, and systemic racism continues “in healthcare, media, lending practices, the criminal ‘justice’ system.”
“This MLK Day, remember my father by: Amplifying and advocating for the end of state-sanctioned and facilitated violence against Black and Brown immigrants and against people, period,” she wrote.
The CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center For Nonviolent Social Change (The King Center), Bernice noted in her statement that people are “suffering genocide in Sudan, Palestine, Congo, and other nations,” and warned democracy is under threat in the U.S.
She urged anyone reading her message to take action by “calling and writing your Congresspersons in support of democracy as opposed to dictatorship.”
Bernice, 62, was one of MLK and Coretta Scott King’s four children including Yolanda, Dexter and Martin III. Yolanda King passed away from complications of heart problems in 2007 and Dexter King died in 2024 after battling cancer.
You can read the full statement from Bernice King below:
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