MLK Day Falls On Inauguration Day, Some Set To Honor King With Community Service

There have been three times the two events aligned.

For only the third time since President Ronald Reagan declared Martin Luther King Day a federal holiday in 1983, the presidential inauguration and MLK Day will fall on the same day, the other two presidents were Bill Clinton (1997) and Barack Obama (2013).

According to NPR, Trump’s rhetoric has convinced many Black activists and some Democratic lawmakers to skip his inauguration to honor MLK Day in their own ways.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) told NPR that she would skip the inauguration in favor of something she felt was more in line with the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.

“I plan to spend the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in my district at community events that feed our collective soul and re-commit us to building a future rooted in love,” Rep. Pressley said.

In December, the daughter of the late Dr. King, Rev. Dr. Bernice King, warned people to pay attention to what President-elect Donald Trump would set out in his inauguration, even if they deeply disagreed with him and his political leanings.

“l certainly understand the desire to tune out rhetoric, ideology, and policies with which we passionately disagree and which contradict the spirit of the Beloved Community,” King wrote on Instagram. “However, we must pay attention to what President-Elect Trump speaks on that day, even if by transcript and video later.”

According to Reuters, King, who is the CEO of the Martin Luther King Jr Center for Nonviolent Social Change, recently called for Americans to honor her father’s work and fight for the America he believed could be possible.

“We [have] an opportunity to take seriously what my father has been saying to us as a nation — to hold strong to those ideals that he taught us,” King told the outlet. “Don’t forget that they showed us that it is possible to keep moving forward and fighting for freedom, justice, and democracy — cultivating it, protecting it, and advancing it.”

On social media, her brother, Martin Luther King III exhorted Americans to follow his father’s example and take up the mantle of service to others.

“MLK Day is a reminder to move from reflection to action,” King III wrote, as he shared an article about the overlapping dates. “My father’s legacy was rooted in service and action. My mother envisioned a ‘day on,’ not off — an opportunity to serve and engage in building the Beloved Community.”