By Jeff Martin and Jefrey Collins — The Associated Press
Communities across the country celebrated the Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day holiday on Monday with community activities, prayer services and parades. But in the context of the upcoming presidential elections, some events took an overtly political turn.
In Atlanta, for example, King's hometown, several speakers at the 56th annual memorial service at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church — where King served as pastor — addressed the divisive partisan climate in America.
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who served on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, had harsh words for Trump, whom she did not mention by name.
"A former president refuses to acknowledge that he lost and has convinced millions of people that our elections and our democracy are no longer working," he said of the events two years ago. "It threatens the foundations of our nation and everything Dr. King fought to save."
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial is seen during the annual wreath-laying ceremony in Washington, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024.Jose Luis Magaña/AP
She also criticized some religious leaders for the way they seemed to worship Trump, and not God, she said.
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U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Ebenezer's longtime senior pastor, told the audience, "You'd better stand up and vote!" to loud applause. "If their vote didn't count, why are people trying so hard to stop them from voting? Stand up and use your voice. Stand up and use your vote. Speak up!"
Martin Luther King III, center, accompanied by his wife Andrea Waters King and daughter Yolanda Renee King, walk with attendees during Martin Luther King, Jr.'s annual wreath-laying ceremony on Jan. 15, 2024.Jose Luis Magaña/AP
Bernice King, daughter of the late civil rights leader, warned that "our humanity is literally under attack." He added that his father's legacy of nonviolence taught the world that "we can defeat injustice, ignorance and hold people accountable at the same time, without seeking to destroy, diminish, degrade or cancel them."
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Speaking at the MLK Day rally at the South Carolina Capitol, Vice President Kamala Harris said young people, two or three generations away from King, have seen their freedoms curtailed, with measures ranging from laws restricting voting to abortion bans 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... Do I need to clarify that the war was about slavery?" said Harris.
Harris also used her speech at the event to urge the younger generation to regain lost rights through voting and action.
"Generation after generation on the fields of Gettysburg, in the schools of Little Rock, on the grounds of this Capitol, on the streets of Ferguson, and in the Tennessee House of Representatives, we, the people, have always fought to make the promise. of real freedom," Harris said.
President Joe Biden volunteers at a soup kitchen to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024.Evan Vucci/AP
President Joe Biden celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in Philadelphia by volunteering at Philabundance, a nonprofit food bank. He filled donation boxes with apples and engaged in a casual chat with the organization's workers, where he volunteered for the third time as president — or president-elect — to commemorate the day.
The 29th Annual Martin Luther King Day of Service in the greater Philadelphia area has been billed as the first and largest MLK day of service in the nation. Volunteer activities included preparing care packages for victims of gun violence and distributing voter information packets.
Martin Luther King III, center, joined by his daughter Yolanda Renee King, left, and his wife Andrea Waters King, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, Monday, Jan. Oct. 15, 2024.Jose Luis Magaña/AP
Also in the city, the MLK Association of Philadelphia held its annual Liberty Bell tour on the Independence Mall, and the National Constitution Center offered free admission with a series of civil rights-era events and a school supply drive.
Considered a national holiday since 1986, the holiday occurs on the third Monday in January, which this year happens to be King's actual birthday. Born in 1929, the slain civil rights leader would have been 95 years old. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act and King's Nobel Peace Prize.