MLK Day is a 'saving grace' today

King's daughter says holiday honoring civil rights leader is a balm in troubling times.

- BY KATE BRUMBACK

Against a backdrop of political division and upheaval, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter said Monday's holiday honoring her father's legacy comes as "somewhat of a saving grace" this year.

"I say that because it inserts a sense of sanity and morality into our very troubling climate right now," the Rev. Bernice King said in an interview with the Associated Press. "With everything going on, the one thing that I think Dr. King reminds people of is hope and the ability to challenge injustice and inhumanity."

The holiday comes a day before President Trump will mark the first anniversary of his second term in office Tuesday. The “three evils” — poverty, racism and militarism— that the civil rights leader identified in a 1967 speech as threats to a democratic society “are very present and manifesting through a lot of what's happening" under Trump's leadership, Bernice King said.

Bernice King, chief executive of the King Center in Atlanta, cited Trump administration efforts to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; directives to scrub key parts of history from government websites and remove “improper ideology” from Smithsonian museums; and aggressive immigration enforcement operations in multiple cities that have turned violent and resulted in the separation of families.