Bernice King—the daughter of the late civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.—called out far-right radio show host Ben Shapiro after he complained every year on the federal holiday that bears King's name, the left-wing releases "a bevy of thinkpieces on how the only way to achieve MLK's dream is to embrace group redistributionism and racial discrimination."
Shapiro added while King "may have made such arguments in 1968," the year he was assassinated, "that simply isn't the dream or the pathway we celebrate him for."
You can see Shapiro's tweet below.
\u201cEvery MLK Day we are treated to a bevy of thinkpieces on how the only way to achieve MLK's dream is to embrace group redistributionism and racial discrimination. MLK may have made such arguments in 1968, but that simply isn't the dream or the pathway we celebrate him for.\u201d— Ben Shapiro (@Ben Shapiro) 1673879418
Shapiro's tweet quickly caught the attention of attorney Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the late King and his wife, fellow civil rights activist Coretta Scott King.
Bernice King directed Shapiro to listen to a speech she gave commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which celebrates her father's accomplishments as the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which protested racial discrimination in federal, state and local law.
The speech, titled "The Inconvenient King," elaborates on King's legacy and political positions, which were unfailingly opposed to poverty, fervently anticapitalist, and prompted his critics to accuse him of supporting communism, which led King to espouse his support for social democracy and democratic socialism in private.
Bernice King said Shapiro should actually "study [her] father," calling his tweet "part lies [and] part propaganda."
She concluded:
"What I don't understand is why you tweeted about Daddy at all."
You can see Bernice King's tweet below.
\u201cBen, I invite you to listen to a speech that I delivered this morning titled \u2018The Inconvenient King\u2019: https://t.co/ygDR8bvDL6\n\n+ I encourage you to study my father.\n\nBecause your tweet is part lies & part propaganda.\n\nWhat I don\u2019t understand is why you tweeted about Daddy at all.\u201d— Be A King (@Be A King) 1673905791
Many applauded Bernice King for speaking out and joined her in criticizing Shapiro.
\u201cBen and his ilk of framing grifters are nothing but staunch truth-twisters, shills of greed, and locus of disinformation posturing pestis (con men of disease) who will stop at nothing to be disingenuous to the world at large.\u201d— SauntDeLush\ud83e\uddd6\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83d\udc86\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83e\uddd8\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f (@SauntDeLush\ud83e\uddd6\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83d\udc86\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f\ud83e\uddd8\ud83c\udffe\u200d\u2640\ufe0f) 1673977447
\u201cSay it, Ms Bernice\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udfff\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udfff\ud83d\udc4f\ud83c\udfff\u201d— JustAnotherDreamer (@JustAnotherDreamer) 1673971961
\u201cSadly we know why Ben lies about MLK it\u2019s part of the rights effort to claim him when these are the people who would have applauded his hounding.\u201d— S M Ginsberg (@S M Ginsberg) 1673964322
\u201cWhen @BerniceKing steps up after thousands have taken you to task, you've got a problem on your hands.\u201d— M. Marks-Osborne (@M. Marks-Osborne) 1673968599
\u201cWhen idiots like Shapiro want to ride the surf of relevance without wading in the waters of truth. Thank God MLK\u2019s children can put pretenders in their place.\u201d— WhatTheActualFact (@WhatTheActualFact) 1673944582
\u201cWish that she had addressed this to all the @MAGA's\u201d— Lori Bayless-George (@Lori Bayless-George) 1673929467
\u201cSimultaneously destroying trolls like Shapiro while still being graceful. What a queen. \ud83d\udc9e I aspire to be like this.\u201d— Mikey (They | Them) (@Mikey (They | Them)) 1673927371
\u201cBen Shapiro lies all the time just so he can have wealth and power. These are two of the things I believe that your father never lusted after. He was a good man. Fallible like all humans yet his heart and soul was committed to make this a more just and fair world. We miss him.\u201d— Ann Johnson (@Ann Johnson) 1673927677
King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labor rights and other civil rights.
His actions—particularly as the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)—achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the federal holiday was first observed in 1986 through legislation signed by Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Many Republicans today claim to celebrate King's legacy despite supporting efforts to block voting rights and prevent children from learning about the history of racism and White supremacy in the United States.
Earlier, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott was criticized for commemorating King's legacy despite backing his party's passage of a bill that allows public schools to exclude the Civil Rights movement, women’s suffrage and the history of Indigenous peoples in history courses.
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