Communities across the United States marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday with parades, panels and service projects, as the political climate for some participants carried sharper tension than celebration or reflection. The 40th federal observance arrived a year after Donald Trump’s second inauguration fell on King Day, with many King admirers criticizing policies they said targeted civil rights and racial justice initiatives and escalated federal enforcement actions in some predominantly Black-led cities.
One focus of concern for speakers at King’s home church in Atlanta came from A.R. Bernard, founder, pastor and CEO of the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn. In remarks given Sunday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Bernard said the Trump administration was attempting to rewrite history, warning against what he described as efforts to obscure Black history. He said the country was “being tempted to forget the painful truth of its Black history,” describing changes such as slavery being renamed as labor and segregation reduced to a “footnote.” He added that what he described as that effort was “irresponsible, historical revisionism.”
At the same Atlanta events, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock urged participants to keep pushing against Trump’s policies. Warnock invoked a story about King fighting for the Voting Rights Act after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act and argued that supporters must continue pressing against sweeping immigration enforcement and what he described as attempts from the “Trump-Vance regime” to sow division. Warnock said, “They are trying to weaponize despair and convince us that we are at war with one another.”
For some groups, the holiday’s political tension was tied to fears about whether social progress will be maintained. The AP report said worries intensified after this month’s fatal shooting of an unarmed Minneapolis woman in her car by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sent to target the Somali immigrant population, and after Trump recently decried civil rights as discrimination against white people.
Even so, concerns did not lead all organizers to scale back events. Some conservative admirers of King said the holiday should emphasize King’s plea that all people be judged by their character and not their skin color, while some Black advocacy groups vowed what they described as a day of resistance and rallies nationwide.
In a separate strand of the day’s coverage, the White House issued a proclamation late Monday encouraging Americans to “recommit” to King’s dream through service. The proclamation included a call to “engage[] in acts of service to others, to their community, and to our Nation,” a line Trump wrote as, “On this day, I encourage all Americans to recommit themselves to Dr. King’s dream by engaging in acts of service to others, to their community, and to our Nation.”
In Washington, hundreds of people marched along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue to honor the civil rights leader, and the AP said the parade began decades ago as part of the effort to establish a national holiday. Sam Ford, a retired broadcaster and committee member, said, “We got to continue to do this because not just of Dr. King, but of what he stood for,” and added, “The struggle continues.” Another parade participant, Harold Hunter, echoed that sentiment, saying, “It’s not just a white thing or Black thing. This is a people thing.”
Other speakers pushed for different emphases within King Day observances. The Heritage Foundation encouraged organizers to keep the holiday focused on King himself. Brenda Hafera, a research fellow, urged people to visit the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park in Atlanta or reread King’s “I have a dream” speech delivered on the Lincoln Memorial steps in Washington nearly 63 years ago. Hafera said she believed efforts should be conducted “in the spirit of what Martin Luther King actually believed and what he preached,” and she described King’s vision as “a colorblind society,” saying his message in the speech was “don’t judge by the color of your skin, but the content of your character.”
Civil rights groups also said the day’s programming should respond to heightened fears among some communities. The NAACP said concerns among communities of color and immigrant communities meant observances needed a different tone, with Wisdom Cole, the NAACP’s senior national director of advocacy, saying, “As folks are using their constitutional right to protest and to speak out and stand up for what they believe in, we are being faced with violence.” Cole added that organizers were dealing with “increased police and state violence inflicted by the government.”
The Movement for Black Lives planned events under the banner “Reclaim MLK Day of Action,” with demonstrations planned in Atlanta, Chicago and Oakland, among other cities, the AP reported. Devonte Jackson, a national organizing director for the coalition, said in a statement that it was more important than ever to reclaim King’s “radical legacy,” and that the message should move people into action to “fight back” and “free ourselves” from what the statement described as a “fascist regime.”
Elsewhere, some events were canceled even as others continued. For the first time in its 60-year history, Indiana University in Indianapolis canceled its annual Martin Luther King dinner, and the AP report said the school’s Black Student Union cited “budget constraints” in a social media post. The Black Student Union also said it was worried the decision was connected to broader political pressures, and the AP reported that students organized smaller community dinners or “eat-ins” to fill the void. In Westbrook, Maine, St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church canceled a MLK Day service due to “unforeseen circumstances,” and the AP said a member of the church’s “social justice and peace committee” told NewsCenterMaine.com the pastor was concerned about people’s safety amid rumors of ICE agents being in the area.
In Memphis, Tennessee, the National Civil Rights Museum planned to proceed with its King holiday celebration as normal, the AP reported, including offering free admission on the holiday. Museum President Russell Wigginton said in a statement that the milestone year was not only about looking back at what King stood for, but also recognizing people who continue to make his ideals real today.
Tang reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writers Matt Brown in Washington; Adrian Sanz in Memphis, Tennessee; Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland; and Charlotte Kramon in Atlanta contributed to this report.