Communities across the United States celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday with acts of service, prayer services and parades.
But with the November presidential election as a backdrop, some events took on an overtly political turn.
In King’s hometown of Atlanta, several speakers at the 56th annual commemorative service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King served as pastor, touched on the divisive partisan climate in the U.S.
Bernice King, the daughter of the late civil rights leader, warned that “our humanity is literally under attack.” But she noted that her father’s legacy of non-violence taught the world that “we can defeat injustice, ignorance and hold people accountable at the same time without seeking to destroy, diminish, demean or cancel them.”
Former U.S. congresswoman Liz Cheney, who served on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, had harsh words for former president and Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, whom she did not mention by name.
On that day, Trump’s supporters tried to block Congress from counting the electoral college votes that would affirm Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential race.
“A former president refuses to acknowledge that he lost, and he has convinced millions that our elections and our democracy no longer work,” she said. “He threatens the foundations of our nation and everything Dr. King persevered to save.”
Speaking at the MLK Day at the Dome rally at the South Carolina State House, Vice-President Kamala Harris said young people two or three generations removed from King have seen their freedoms shrink — from laws restricting voting to bans on abortions and the ever-present threat of gun violence, especially in schools.
“They even try to erase, overlook and rewrite the ugly parts of our past. For example, the Civil War — which must I really have to say was about slavery?” Harris said.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley came under fire last month for not mentioning slavery when asked at a town hall in New Hampshire about what caused the U.S. Civil War.
In Philadelphia, President Joe Biden marked the holiday by volunteering at Philabundance, a non-profit food bank. He stuffed donation boxes with apples and struck up casual chatter with workers at the organization, where he volunteered for the third year in a row to mark the January day of service.
The 29th annual Greater Philadelphia Martin Luther King Day of Service is billed as the first and largest King day of service in the U.S. Volunteer activities included preparing care packages for victims of gun violence and distributing voter information packets.
In Washington, Martin Luther King III, the son of the civil rights leader, participated in a wreath-laying event at his father’s memorial.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers, at a noon-time ceremony in the state capitol rotunda, said the holiday is an opportunity to recommit to addressing health disparities, fully funding public schools and providing affordable housing, child care and transportation.