MLK Jr.’s daughter slams President Trump for using her father’s image in campaign ad
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter criticized President Donald Trump for using her father’s image in a campaign ad.
“My father should not be used in ways strongly misaligned with his vision and values,” Bernice King, daughter of the civil rights icon, tweeted Wednesday, calling the political ad “beyond insulting.”
“My father was working for an America with leaders who have answered the call to conscience and compassionate action,” King continued. “He said, ‘We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity.’”
King also tweeted an image of the ad, which is titled “We Will Never Surrender America.”
The pro-Trump ad uses images of King and Jackie Robinson, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. It is 90 seconds long and shows scenes of violence and looting while warning of people who “want to destroy our traditions and terrorize our communities.” The ad goes on to say “we’ll never surrender America.”
Sharon Robinson, the daughter of the baseball legend, also tweeted her objection to the ad.
“The Trump campaign is in opposition to all that Jackie Robinson stood for and believed in,” Robinson tweeted. “We’re insulted and demand that his image be removed.”
The Trump campaign hasn’t responded to NBC News’ request for comment about the daughters’ remarks.
While Bernice King has spoken out against the president, Alveda King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece, has written about her support for Trump.
“Over the last four years, I have had a front-row seat watching President Trump fight for religious liberties not only here in America, but around the globe. I have watched him champion the rights of the unborn. I have watched him advance opportunities in Black America,” she wrote in her memoir, according to Atlanta Daily World.
Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most prominent leaders of the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1968. He called for an end to racism in America in his historic “I Have a Dream” speech during the March on Washington in 1963.
This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 9:46 AM with the headline "MLK Jr.’s daughter slams President Trump for using her father’s image in campaign ad."