On MLK Day, national leaders acknowledge unmet needs for racial equality – NBC4 Washington

Americans must commit to carrying out the unfinished work of Martin Luther King Jr., bringing work and justice, and defending “the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow out,” President Joe Biden said Monday.

Martin Luther King Day is a time when a mirror is shown to America, the president said in a video address.

“It’s time for every elected official in America to make their position clear,” Biden said. “It’s time for every American to stand up. Speak out, listen. Where do you stand?”

Major holiday events also included Martin Luther King Jr. served at the Ebenezer Baptist Church of the slain civil rights leader in Atlanta, where the senior pastor, U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, was hosting Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and other politicians. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and members of the King family spoke in Washington.

Monday will be the 93rd birthday of Father Martin Luther King Jr., who was 39 years old when he was assassinated in 1968 while helping strike sanitation workers for better pay and safety. at work in Memphis, Tennessee.

King, who gave the historic “I Have a Dream” speech while leading in March 1963 in Washington and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, considers racial equality to be inseparable from poverty alleviation. and end the war. His staunch opposition to nonviolence continues to influence activists promoting civil rights and social change.

The U.S. economy “has never worked fairly for black Americans — or indeed for any American of color,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement on Thursday. Two, one of many national leaders to acknowledge the unmet need for racial equality for Martin Luther King Day.

Yellen mentioned King’s famous speech in a speech she recorded delivering groceries at Father Al Sharpton’s National Action Network breakfast in Washington, noting the financial metaphor he used. used when describing the equal promise of the founding fathers.

The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

King said on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial that “America defaulted on this ballot as far as her citizens of color were concerned.” He called it “a bad check, a check that came back marked as insufficient. But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt! ”

“It’s a fascinating rhetoric, but I also think Dr. King knows it’s more of a metaphor than a metaphor. He knows that economic injustice is bound by the greater injustice he is fighting against. From Reconstruction, to Jim Crow, to this day, our economy has never worked fairly for black Americans — or indeed for any American of color,” Yellen said. .

She said the administration of President Joe Biden has sought to ensure that there is no economic institution that does not work for people of color. Equity is built into the American Rescue Plan for pandemic relief for communities of color, and the Treasury is injecting $9 billion into Community Development Finance Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions numbers are often poorly served by the financial sector.

“There is still a lot of work that the Treasury needs to do to narrow the racial divide between rich and poor,” she said.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the entire nation stops to remember the Civil Rights icon. But did you know it took nearly 32 years of fighting for the day to become a federal holiday? NBCLX breaks down the events leading up to the national celebration in honor of Dr.

The King Center said the 10 a.m. service, featuring a keynote address by Father Michael Bruce Curry, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, will be streamed live on the Atlanta branch of Fox TV and on Facebook and YouTube. and thekingcenter.org. Atlanta’s planned events also include a march, a rally, and a voter registration campaign by the Georgia Coalition for America’s People and Youth Service Agenda.

“On this King’s Day, I urge us to shift our priorities to reflect our commitment to true peace and an awareness of our interconnectedness, interdependence, and interdependence. us,” King Center CEO Bernice King said in a statement. “This will lead us to a greater understanding of our responsibilities to and to each other, which is so important to learning how to live together, achieve ‘true peace’ and create a Community. Beloved copper. “