Martin Luther King III, son of Martin Luther King Jr., says black Americans will have to engage incoming U.S. President Donald Trump with pressure to ensure that he represents all Americans and not president for some.
King, who made the remarks after a meeting with Trump on Monday to commemorate his father’s birthday, said his meeting with the president-elect was fruitful.
“Well, certainly he said that he’s going to represent Americans.
“He said that over and over again and I think that we will continue to evaluate that.
“I think that the nation supports that.
“I believe that’s his intent but I think also we have to consistently engage with pressure, public pressure.
“It doesn’t happen automatically.
“My father and his team understood that, they did that and I think that Americans are prepared to do that,” the son of the late civil rights icon said.
King, however, regretted that inequality and poverty had persisted in America, decades after his late father fought for equality and social justice.
“I think my father will be very concerned about the fact that there are 60 million people living in poverty, and somehow we’ve got to create the climate for all souls to be lifted.
“In America with a multi-trillion dollars economy, 20 trillion dollars almost, it is insanity that we have poor people in this nation, that’s unacceptable.
“And when we work together we know we can roll up our sleeves.
“There’s nothing we as Americans can’t do,” King III said.
On the controversy between Trump and civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis over the legitimacy of Trump’s election, King called for unity among Americans.
“In the heat of the emotion, I think a lot of things got said on both sides.
“I think that at some point, I am as John Lewis, the goal is to bring America together.
“We are a great nation but we must become a greater nation.
“What my father represented, my mother represented through her life, what I hope that I am trying to do is always bring people together.”
He also refuted Trump’s claim that Lewis was “all talk, no action”.
“Absolutely I will say that John Lewis has demonstrated that he has action.
“As I said things got said on both sides in the heat of the emotion.
“And at some point this nation we’ve got to move forward. We can’t stay. I mean people are literally probably dying.
“We need to be talking about how do we feed people, how do we clothe people, how do we create the best education system.
“That’s what we need to be focused on,” Martin Luther King III said. (NAN)