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Monday, April 2, 2018

Memphis remembers the legacy of Martin Luther King

Por Damian

Former Secretary of Justice Eric Holder said recently in Memphis, Tennessee, that despite the progress that the United States of America has made since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while fighting against poverty and racism, "the era of abusers and intolerants is not completely in the past”.

The statement was one of two subtle references to President Donald Trump that Holder made during a symposium on the first of three days of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Luther King's murder. The leader was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, where he had assisted to support a strike of health workers. He was talking to some friends on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel on April 4 when he was hit by a bullet.

Museums, schools and activists have organized three days of marches, speeches and conferences to remember King and his legacy. Later on, his daughter, Bernice King, and Holder toured a new photo exhibition dedicated to King at the National Museum of Civil Rights. She and her brother, Martin Luther King III, will give speeches at Mason Temple church in the midst of the homage. "It is a very emotional moment for me and my family,” he acknowledged.

Holder, the first black US justice secretary, spoke at a symposium sponsored by the University of Memphis and the museum. It was introduced by Democratic federal Senator Doug Jones, who won a special election in December. Holder said he is proud that the country has made progress in the last 50 years to achieve racial, social and economic justice. He said that women, minorities, students who oppose gun violence, and members of the LGBTQ community were inspired by King's nonviolent protests and have launched movements demanding "equality, opportunity and justice”.

But in statements that apparently referred to Trump without mentioning his name, Holder also stressed that King's dream of equality for all is not yet achieved.

"We keep marching, we keep fighting and we keep asking our leaders to act with a sense of justice, compassion and common humanity," Holder declared. "The unfortunate fact is that in 2018, the old struggle of the United States to overcome injustice, eliminate disparities and eradicate violence has not yet ended, and the era of abusers and intolerant is not completely in the past.”