Page 27 - bon-dia-aruba-20220118

A27
u.s. news Diamars 18 Januari 2022

On MLK Day, Biden says Americans must commit to King’s work

(AP) — Americans must against. From Reconstruc-
commit to the unfinished tion, to Jim Crow, to the
work of Martin Luther present day, our economy has
King Jr., delivering jobs never worked fairly for Black
and justice and protecting Americans – or, really, for any
“the sacred right to vote, a American of color,” Yellen
right from which all other said.
rights flow,” President Joe
Biden said Monday. She said the Biden adminis-
tration has sought to ensure
Martin Luther King Day is that no economic institu-
a moment when a mirror is tion fails to work for people
held up to America, the pres- of color, building equity into
ident said in a video address. the American Rescue Plan
and injecting $9 billion into
“It’s time for every elected community and minority-
official in America to make run financial institutions
it clear where they stand,” poorly served by Wall Street.
Biden said. “It’s time for ev-
ery American to stand up. Former President Barack
Speak out, be heard. Where Obama shared a picture of
do you stand?” King’s granddaughter Yolan-
da admiring a bust of the
Major holiday events in- civil rights leader he kept in
cluded marches in several the Oval Office. “The fight
cities and the annual Mar- “It’s no longer just about who represents.” tional leaders acknowledging for voting rights takes per-
tin Luther King Jr. service at gets to vote. It’s about who unmet needs for racial equal- severance,” Obama tweeted.
the slain civil rights leader’s gets to count the vote. And “Let the word go forth, you ity on Martin Luther King “As Dr. King said, ‘There
Ebenezer Baptist Church whether your vote counts at can not remember Dr. King Day. are no broad highways to
in Atlanta, where U.S. Sen. all. It’s about two insidious and dismember his legacy lead us easily and inevitably
Raphael Warnock is the se- things: voter suppression and at the same time,” Warnock Yellen referred to King’s fa- to quick solutions. We must
nior pastor. Pews have been election subversion,” Biden said. “If you will speak his mous speech in remarks she keep going.’ May we honor
packed by politicians in past said. name you have to stand up recorded for delivery at the his memory through action
years, but given the pandem- for voting rights, you have Rev. Al Sharpton’s National forged in faith.”
ic, many offered pre-record- Vice President Kamala Harris to stand up on behalf of the Action Network breakfast
ed speeches instead. sent a to the Ebenezer ser- poor and the oppressed and in Washington, noting the King “saw a great injustice in
vice, saying that “in Georgia the disenfranchised.” financial metaphor he used his world and fought to right
This holiday marks what and across our nation, anti- when describing the found- that wrong,” Georgia Gov.
would have been the 93rd voter laws are being passed King, who delivered his ing fathers’ promises of Brian Kemp said in a record-
birthday of the Rev. Martin that could make it more dif- historic “I Have a Dream” equality. ed message played at Ebene-
Luther King Jr., who was just ficult for as many as 55 mil- speech while leading the 1963 zer. “His methods ultimately
39 when he was assassinated lion Americans to vote ... that March on Washington and King said on the steps of led to success and showed all
in 1968 while helping sanita- is one out of six people in our was awarded the Nobel Peace the Lincoln Memorial that of us that taking the high road
tion workers strike for better country.” Prize in 1964, considered ra- “America has defaulted on is the best path to achieving
pay and workplace safety in cial equality inseparable from this promissory note insofar lasting change.”
Memphis, Tennessee. “We know that this assault alleviating poverty and stop- as her citizens of color are
on our freedom to vote will ping war. His insistence on concerned.” He called it ”a Democrat Stacey Abrams,
King’s eldest son criticized be felt by every American, in nonviolent protest continues bad check, a check which has now trying again to defeat
Biden and Congress as a every community, in every to influence activists push- come back marked insuffi- Kemp as he seeks reelection,
whole on Monday for failing political party,” she said. ing for civil rights and social cient funds. But we refuse to tweeted that King’s call re-
to pass voting rights legisla- change. believe the bank of justice is mains clear: “Deliver justice
tion, even as 19 Republican- Sen. Tim Scott of South Car- bankrupt!” for the poor, protect those
led states have made it harder olina, the Senate’s only Black The U.S. economy “has targeted by hate, defend the
to vote in response to former Republican, countered with never worked fairly for Black “It is compelling rhetoric, but freedom to vote, and demand
President Donald Trump’s a series of King Day-themed Americans — or, really, for I also think Dr. King knew it that our leaders fight current
false claims about election- videos he said would empha- any American of color,” Trea- was a more than a metaphor. malice as the best bulwark
rigging. size positive developments on sury Secretary Janet Yellen He knew that economic in- against future harm.”
civil rights. Scott sidestepped said in a speech delivered justice was bound up in the
“You were successful with in- criticism about GOP actions Monday, one of many by na- larger injustice he fought
frastructure, which is a great and accused Democrats of la-
thing -- but we need you to beling his party members as
use that same energy to en- racists.
sure that all Americans have
the same unencumbered “To compare or conflate peo-
right to vote,” Martin Luther ple who oppose his positions
King III said. as being racists and traitors
to the country is not only
Senate Republicans remain insulting and infuriating, it’s
unified in opposition to the dead wrong,” Scott told The
Democrats’ voting bills. Associated Press.
Biden described their stone-
walling as part of “a true at- Warnock, now running for
tack on our democracy, from reelection as Georgia’s first
the Jan. 6 insurrection to the Black senator, said in his
onslaught of Republican an- speech to the sparse crowd
ti-voting laws in an number at Ebenezer that “everybody
of states.” loves Dr. King, they just
don’t always love what he