The son of one of the most celebrated civil rights activist in history, Martin Luther King III recognized Trump’s recent commentary on immigration, as he verbally devalued Haitian and African immigrants are being those who reign from “shithole countries”, as being “extremely racist.”
On Monday (Jan. 15), what would have been the 89th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a sanctioned federal holiday, the son of the slain civil rights icon took to CNN‘s Chris Cuomo Prime Time to express his discernment with President Trump’s demeaning remarks and to declare the man is not active in following his father’s advocacy for equality, as he claims to be.
“I think that the President has got to be engaged in some sensitivity and heart changing,” says King. “When I say heart, we’ve got to appeal to his heart because there’s something wrong — it seems to me — when you make comments that way.”
King is also the CEO and president of the non-profit organization, Realizing the Dream, an institution designed to keep the ball rolling on the task his parents initiated. While he notes Trump’s remarks as being racist, he did not necessarily label the controversial president as being a racist.
“Some may go further and say he is a racist, what I am saying is his comments were extraordinarily racist,” King said.
Dr. King’s niece, Dr. Alveda King denied the racist identity of Trump the day of her uncle’s federal holiday on television program Fox and Friends by saying: “I do not believe President Donald John Trump is a racist. The economy’s up. Jobs are up in the black community. There is great promise to get a lot of people who have been unfairly incarcerated out.”
King disbanded her statement when asked if he is in compliance with such, by saying “no family is monolithic,” and indicating Trump does not honor his father’s teachings.
He recalled the time when Trump met with Pope Francis and gave him a set of first-edition writings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s, insisting he should perhaps retrieve the writings and actually read them, to understand the identity of Dr. King.
“What I would implore the President to do is to get those books for himself and to read them and then he can begin to understand who Martin Luther King Jr. was.”
