'The struggle continues': MLK Day celebrated amid tense political climate

[marmar]

Holiday marked with parades and services but tempered by anxieties over racial and social equality under Trump


(Guardian) Martin Luther King Jr Day was marked with parades and services across the US on Monday. But the celebration for the achievements of the slain 60s civil rights leader was tempered by contemporary anxieties over racial and social equality and Trump administration’s crackdown in Minneapolis.

At a rally in Harlem, the Rev Al Sharpton referred to Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three who was killed by an immigration officer in Minneapolis earlier this month.

“If she cursed them out does that give them the right to shoot her?” he asked. “Now they’re talking about sending in the national guards, sending in more ICE agents. We are in a state that Dr King would have been fighting against this country going this far.”

Sharpton called for a broad sense of unity, saying that “if people are on our side, we can disagree without being disagreeable because we have folks that are adversarial to the interests of our community. ....................(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/19/mlk-day-celebrations

[JustAnotherGen]

1. Tense

We are a country divided.