Trump’s inauguration will take place on MLK Day. Her daughter Bernice King is happy

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr’s youngest child didn’t want Donald Trump to become the next president — but Dr. Bernice King believes Trump’s inauguration, which takes place on the same day as the federal holiday in honor of his father, is a small victory.

“I’m glad that if it was going to happen, it happened on King’s holiday, because Dr. King still speaks to us,” she said. The Independent. She views the January 20 event as a wake-up call for the country and an opportunity to oppose the new administration’s busy agenda items.

“We cannot retreat or go backwards,” King said. “We must commit to continuing the mission of protecting freedom, justice and democracy in the spirit of my father.”

King was excited about the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is of Black and South Asian descent, becoming the nation’s first female president on MLK Day.

She had hoped that the United States would elect someone who embodied her father’s values. Not “someone who engages in hateful speech, who has not been very kind and whose politics are not humane in their approach,” as she described him.

She later added: “A Trump victory could potentially unleash a perilous and oppressive presidential administration that would undermine and negate the hard-fought battle for civil and human rights that my parents and so many others sacrificed for.

Civil rights leaders like her fear the new administration will try to roll back those rights. Trump has proposed a mass deportation plan, vowed to go after his enemies and intends to implement federal policies that discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people and people of color.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the NAACP have announced their commitment to fighting what may come next.

“We are entering a new era of civil rights, for better or for worse,” said Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia NAACP. “We haven’t seen an attack on civil rights like the one that I believe is about to happen since the ’50s, maybe even the ’20s.”

The group is working to ensure Trump’s power does not go unchecked by strengthening its legal and lobbying teams. Griggs said he is willing to give the president-elect a chance, but he is concerned about some of his recent actions, such as the appointment of former Congressman Matt Gaetz as U.S. attorney general. Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration Thursday.

Under Trump, Griggs fears the Justice Department’s civil rights division will be used as a weapon against minority groups.

“We need to be ready now,” he said. “We are already holding organizational meetings, both at the national and state level, to prepare units for what is going to happen.”

In a press release issued the day after the election, the ACLU promised to defend against Trump’s deportation plan, advise whistleblowers, and challenge any discriminatory policies and regressive plans for reproductive freedoms.

King knows that any pushback against the new administration will require the same level of dedication seen during his father’s movement, before the country had a civil rights law or a voting rights law .

In the weeks following the election, she was comforted by his famous words such as: “Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred”, a phrase he uttered the famous “I have a dream”. » speech in 1963.

“I know a lot of people are angry right now,” King said. The Independent. “But we can’t let this fester inside us.”

Thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets of Washington DC ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

The “People’s March on Washington” is scheduled for January 18. A coalition of organizations, including the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the National Women’s Law Center, are planning the event to protest Trump’s positions that they say undermine civil rights.

On Inauguration Day, Al Sharpton’s National Action Network plans to hold a rally in the city.

“There has never been a more important time to mobilize and organize peacefully,” Sharpton said in announcing the event on MSNBC last week.

MLK Day has been celebrated on the third Monday in January since its inception in 1983, while Inauguration Day has been set on January 20 since 1937. The late civil rights icon was assassinated in 1968.

Griggs and King will spend the holidays attending events commemorating the late King’s legacy. As Trump takes the oath of office, Griggs wants the new president to consider the late icon’s importance in American history and remember that residents of King Jr.’s hometown of Fulton County are still waiting an explanation on accusations related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

In August 2023, Trump was charged with racketeering and conspiracy for allegedly urging Georgia officials to influence the results in his favor. The case was delayed after the Dec. 5 hearing was canceled until further orders from the court.

“It’s interesting,” Griggs said of the upcoming vacation. “The juxtaposition of a man of immense greatness, humility and concern for community, with Donald Trump.”

Only two presidents have taken the oath of office at this holiday before: Barack Obama in 2013 and Bill Clinton in 1997. Obama used a Bible belonging to the civil rights leader during the ceremony.

The Independent sent an email to a Trump spokesperson asking if the president-elect would incorporate King’s legacy into the ceremony, but did not get a response.