ATLANTA -- A day before the U.S. Senate was expected to take up significant legislation on voting rights that looks likely to fail, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s eldest son condemned federal lawmakers over their inaction.
Speaking in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Martin Luther King III said although he was marking the federal holiday named for his father, he wasn't there to celebrate. He was there to call on Congress and President Joe Biden to pass the legislation that would help ease Republican-led voting restrictions passed in at least 19 states that make it more difficult to cast a ballot.
"Our democracy stands on the brink of serious trouble without these bills," he said.
Monday's holiday marked what would have been the 93rd birthday of the Martin Luther King Jr., who was 39 when he was assassinated in 1968 while helping sanitation workers strike for better pay and workplace safety in Memphis.
Around the U.S., other holiday events included marches, acts of service in King's name and the annual service at the slain civil-rights leader's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock is the senior pastor.
Pews have been packed by politicians in past years, but given the pandemic, many gave either prerecorded or livestreamed remarks instead, including Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
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Biden said Americans must commit to King's unfinished work, delivering jobs and justice and protecting "the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow."
"It's time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand," Biden said. "It's time for every American to stand up. Speak out, be heard. Where do you stand?"
Democrats had hoped to vote on the legislation Monday, in a show of respect for the late civil-rights leader as the issue gathered political steam late last year and peaked with a blunt speech last week by Biden, who likened the Jan. 6, 2021, violence and election subversion of today with the civil-rights struggles of King and others.
But Senate Republicans remain unified in opposition to the Democrats' voting legislation, and the 50-50 chamber needs 60 votes to pass it. Two Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, remain opposed to changing Senate rules that would let Democrats pass the bills without the GOP. The vote was pushed back to today, but by all accounts the prospects are dim.
King III told of how his father also faced pushback on civil rights by those who believed the issue could not be solved with legislation.
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"They told him he had to change hearts first. And he worked hard at that. After all, he was a Baptist preacher," King said. "But he knew that when someone is denying you your fundamental rights, conversation and optimism won't get you very far."
LEADERS WEIGH IN
Sinema has argued that bipartisanship is needed to address the issue, but King countered that significant milestones, including the 14th Amendment that granted citizenship to former slaves, passed Congress without bipartisan support.
Harris was meeting Monday with lawmakers ahead of the vote working to get the legislation passed. But when asked specifically about her message to Sinema and Manchin, she didn't engage directly.
"As I've said before, there are a hundred members of the United States Senate, and I'm not going to absolve -- nor should any of us -- absolve any member of the United States Senate from taking on a responsibility to follow through on the oath that they all took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States," she said.
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Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate's only Black Republican, countered with a series of King-themed videos he said emphasized positive developments on civil rights. He sidestepped criticism about GOP actions and accused Biden of labeling Republicans as racists.
"To compare or conflate people who oppose his positions as being racists and traitors to the country is not only insulting and infuriating, it's dead wrong," Scott said.
To the sparse crowd at Ebenezer, Warnock, now running for reelection as Georgia's first Black senator, said that "everybody loves Dr. King, they just don't always love what he represents."
"Let the word go forth, you cannot remember Dr. King and dismember his legacy at the same time," Warnock said. "If you will speak his name, you have to stand up for voting rights, you have to stand up on behalf of the poor and the oppressed and the disenfranchised."
Other leaders also weighed in. Former President Barack Obama shared a picture of King's granddaughter Yolanda admiring a bust of King that Obama kept in the Oval Office.
"The fight for voting rights takes perseverance," Obama tweeted. "As Dr. King said, 'There are no broad highways to lead us easily and inevitably to quick solutions. We must keep going.'"
King "saw a great injustice in his world and fought to right that wrong," Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a recorded message played at Ebenezer. "His methods ultimately led to success and showed all of us that taking the high road is the best path to achieving lasting change."
Democrat Stacey Abrams, now trying again to defeat Kemp as he seeks reelection, tweeted that King's call remains clear: "Deliver justice for the poor, protect those targeted by hate, defend the freedom to vote, and demand that our leaders fight current malice as the best bulwark against future harm."
King, who delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech while leading the 1963 March on Washington and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, considered racial equality inseparable from alleviating poverty and stopping war. His insistence on nonviolent protest continues to influence activists pushing for civil rights and social change.
FILIBUSTER AT ISSUE
Members of King's family demanded that the Senate scrap the filibuster to pass the voting rights legislation.
King III; his wife, Arndrea Waters King; and their teenager daughter, Yolanda Renee King, joined several hundred other activists and residents in a frigid walk across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in the capital. The bridge, they said, symbolized Congress' support for the recently approved $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
"To the president and United States senators, you were successful with infrastructure, which is a great thing," King III told the crowd gathered outside Nationals Park before they headed over the bridge. "But you need to use the same energy to ensure all Americans have an unencumbered right to vote."
As a wintry breeze blew, D.C. resident Lydia Davis said she and a friend marched to honor King and advocate for access to the ballot box, as well as other rights he fought for.
"I'm 64, and all the issues we're marching for are the same things," said Davis, a substitute teacher. "I'm marching so my daughter doesn't have to march 10 years from now."
The group continued as part of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Walk on its 2-mile route along Martin Luther King Avenue SE. They then attended a news conference at Union Station with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other House members calling on the Senate to avoid a filibuster and pass the voting rights bill.
"From the Civil War to the Jim Crow era, the filibuster has blocked popular bills to stop lynching, end poll taxes, and fight workplace discrimination," organizers said on their website. "Now it's being used to block voting rights. The weaponization of the filibuster is racism cloaked in procedure and it must go."
Participants hoisted signs saying "Black votes matter," "Jews for the freedom to vote" and "Voter suppression is un-American."
The Rev. Ray East, 71, said the wintry temperatures and slushy mess left from the previous evening's snow and freezing rain didn't discourage him from joining the peace walk, as he has for about the past 10 years. With voting rights legislation pending in Congress, he said, participating this year felt even more pressing.
"I can't think of another time in my life when we were at a juncture like this -- where we have the opportunity for us to do the right thing and act on the side of justice and democracy," East, a D.C. resident, said as he brought up the rear of the crowd.
"When Dr. King was marching, I was a teenager. Now it's about voting and how important it is for people to be enfranchised." Speaking of which, East said, "It's a good time to talk about D.C. statehood."
Many participants, including King III, said they couldn't advocate for voting rights without including a call to give the District of Columbia voting representation in Congress.
VOTING RIGHTS BILL
Passage of the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, passed by the House last week, is is in doubt because Democrats lack the votes to change the rules to avoid a filibuster by Republican opponents. Supporters' efforts suffered a blow last week when Manchin and Sinema said they would oppose attempts to change the filibuster rules.
Their opposition also marked a defeat for Biden, who had appealed for congressional support to end the filibuster after his voting rights speech in Atlanta. Biden said the Senate should eliminate the filibuster if necessary to at least debate the legislation, calling recent state limits on voting access a "threat to our democracy" and "Jim Crow 2.0."
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he could start debate on the voting rights bill with a simple majority of 51 votes because of rules that govern the way it passed the House. However, unless the Senate changes the filibuster rules, 60 votes would still be required to end debate and move to a vote.
GOP-led legislatures, many spurred by President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, have recently passed voting restrictions, including expanding ID requirements and limiting early voting and voting by mail. Democrats and civil-rights leaders say those changes will suppress the vote, particularly among minorities, while Republicans say they need to prevent voter fraud and restore public faith in the electoral process.
The pending legislation would establish national standards for voter registration, early voting, voting by mail and permissible voter IDs. It also would make Election Day a federal holiday and restore federal legal authority over certain voting changes in states and jurisdictions with a history of discrimination.
Information for this article was contributed by Jeff Martin, Michael Warren, Colleen Long and Meg Kinnard of The Associated Press; and by Katherine Shaver of The Washington Post.
Snow covers the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Visitors look to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial as snow falls in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
FILE - Flowers lay in front of the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Jan. 18, 2021, in Atlanta. The annual Martin Luther King Jr. service is set to be held at his old congregation in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Branden Camp, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. The U.S. economy “has never worked fairly for Black Americans — or, really, for any American of color,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a speech delivered Monday, Jan. 17, 2022 one of many by national leaders acknowledging unmet needs for racial equality on Martin Luther King Day. (AP Photo, File)
Martin Luther King III, accompanied by his daughter Yolanda Reneee King and his wife Andrea Waters King speaks during a news conference in Washington, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. King's eldest son criticized Biden and Congress as a whole on Monday for failing to pass voting rights legislation, even as 19 Republican-led states have made it harder to vote in response to former President Donald Trump's false claims about election-rigging. "You were successful with infrastructure, which is a great thing -- but we need you to use that same energy to ensure that all Americans have the same unencumbered right to vote," Martin Luther King III said. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Shelby Batch, 12, of California, clears snow from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks virtually to the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Beloved Community Commemorative Service, from the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Martin Luther King III, speaks during a news conference in Washington, Monday, Jan. 17, 2022. King's eldest son criticized Biden and Congress as a whole on Monday for failing to pass voting rights legislation, even as 19 Republican-led states have made it harder to vote in response to former President Donald Trump’s false claims about election-rigging. “You were successful with infrastructure, which is a great thing -- but we need you to use that same energy to ensure that all Americans have the same unencumbered right to vote,” Martin Luther King III said. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
In a long exposure photo, lights from a snowplow illuminate sleet at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Ceremonies scheduled for the site on Monday, to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday, have been canceled because of the weather. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)