King's daughter slams twisting of critical race theory
ATLANTA (AP) — Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter used an address Monday to push for federal voting rights legislation and slam the twisting of critical race theory to create what she called “false narratives.”
Rev. Bernice King said there is a “very urgent need” for voting legislation, and that it is “crucial to humanity across the globe that the United States of America stands as a democratic nation.” Her remarks came ahead of a scheduled visit Tuesday to Georgia by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to talk about voting rights.
King also addressed critical race theory, a way of thinking about America’s history that centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society. Republican-controlled states have invoked it in legislation restricting how race can be taught in public schools, and it's become a lightning rod for the GOP.
She said the nation needed a shift in priorities that “helps us understand we can’t commemorate my father on the one hand while also promoting false narratives under the banner of critical race theory.”
She added: "CRT is not the problem. Racism is the problem, poverty or extreme materialism is the problem and militarism, war is the problem.”