On Monday, Jan. 19, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke at celebrations in Brooklyn and Harlem, emphasizing that House Democrats remain committed to advancing Dr. King’s legacy against extremist opposition.
“Dr. King, of course, taught us that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and that we all have the responsibility to show up and stand up and speak up for what is right. and to channel his courage, his character and his conviction to continue to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice,” said Jeffries, speaking at Zion Baptist Church’s MLK Day Celebration in Brooklyn.
“So, I’m thankful for Dr. King,” added the representative for the 8th Congressional District that encompasses parts of Brooklyn and Queens. “In the midst of all these challenging times, we can be inspired by what he and other civil rights heroes and foot soldiers were able to accomplish.”
Jeffries said Rev. King “made the impossible possible – Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Fair Housing Act – made the impossible possible to lay a foundation for us to take the baton and keep moving forward.
“And, in addition, of course, as I close, to Dr. King being a great civil rights leader,” the House Democratic Leader said. “We know he was a Baptist preacher, a man of God. This is why here in Brooklyn, Re. Dr. Martin Luther King is the only king we celebrate, not the wannabe authoritarian.”
At the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network’s MLK Day Public Policy Forum in Harlem, Jeffries said: “We’re gonna continue to work hard to make life better for the American people while we push back against the extremism.
“We believe that in this great country, standing on the shoulders of Dr. King, if you work hard and you play by the rules, you should be able to live a comfortable life, an affordable life, live the good life, good-paying job, good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children and a good retirement,” he said. “Which, by the way, means making sure these extremists keep their hands off your Social Security and your Medicare at all times. Work hard, play by the rules, live the good life.
“But trouble all around us,” Jeffries warned. “Yet we’re not distressed, because we know that Dr. King gave us the vision, the dream, the blueprint, for addressing societal ills – urging us, at all times, to show up, and stand up, and speak up for what we know is right. And to summon that courage, that character, and that conviction of Dr. King and those civil rights heroes and foot soldiers. The same courage that Reverend Sharpton encourages us to continue to display today.
“And that, in doing so, we can bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice,” he added.
At the NOBLE MLK Day Celebration at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church in Brooklyn, Jeffries said, “We want to move the country forward; these extremists are trying to turn back the clock.
“We’re fighting hard to bring people together,” he said. “They’re tearing us apart. We believe in truth and reconciliation. They want to erase our history. But civil rights history and Black history, that’s American history.
“We will never let them erase it, which is why it’s important for all of us to continue to convene,” Jeffries affirmed. “Today, there are going to be some folks who are gonna celebrate Dr. King, and then they’re gonna come to Washington tomorrow and denigrate diversity, equity, and inclusion. Which, by the way, those are values that were articulated by Dr. King, because they are American values.”
At the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s 40th Annual MLK Day Celebration, Jeffries said that he’s learned throughout the years in serving in Congress that “while Jim Crow may be dead, he’s still got some nieces and nephews that are alive and well – wickedness in high places.
“And so, of course, we’ve got challenges all around us, as they’ve released this unprecedented extremism on the American people – an attack on the economy, an attack on healthcare, an attack on nutritional assistance, an attack on our veterans, an attack on law-abiding immigrant families who we will always defend with who we are as Americans, an attack on the rule of law, of course, on the American way of life and democracy itself,” Jeffries added.
