On This Year's Holiday, Many MLK Admirers Are Worried

As communities across the country on Monday host parades, panels, and service projects for the 40th federal observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the political climate for some is more fraught with tensions than festive, reports the AP. In the year since President Trump's second inauguration fell on King Day, the president and his team have moved to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, among other policies that many King admirers have criticized. "We have seen a coordinated effort to erase or rewrite parts of American history, especially Black history and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement," Martin Luther King III, son of the civil rights leader, tells Axios.

Last month, for example, the National Park Service announced it will no longer offer free admission to parks on King Day and Juneteenth, but instead on Flag Day and Trump's birthday. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Trump said he felt the Civil Rights Movement and the reforms it helped usher in were harmful to white people, who "were very badly treated." Politicians and advocates say Trump's comments are what are harmful, because they dismiss the hard work of King and others that helped not just Black Americans but other groups, including women and the LGBTQ+ community.

"I think the Civil Rights Movement was one of the things that made our country so unique, that we haven't always been perfect, but we've always strived to be this more perfect union, and that's what I think the Civil Rights Movement represents," Gov. Wes Moore, Maryland's first Black governor and only the nation's third elected Black governor, said this week in an interview with the AP. Read the full piece.