Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy Is Something That Americans Should Consider, Says Biden

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Joe Biden visited “America’s freedom church,” a significant location in history.

According to the US President, the civil rights leader’s life and legacy “teach us the path and we should pay heed” because the democracy was in danger at the time.

In his sermon, Mr. Biden cited the poignant question that Dr. King himself once posed to the country. He was the first sitting president to preach at Dr. King’s Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.

“He said, ‘Where do we go from here?’,” Mr Biden said from the pulpit. “Well, my message to this nation on this day is we go forward, we go together, when we choose democracy over autocracy, a beloved community over chaos, when we choose believers and the dreams, to be doers, to be unafraid, always keeping the faith.”

He addressed congregation members, lawmakers, and dignitaries: “It’s a constant struggle… between hope and fear, kindness and cruelty, justice and injustice.”

He spoke out against those who “traffick in racism, extremism, insurrection” and said the struggle to protect democracy was playing out in courthouses and ballot boxes, protests and other avenues. At our best, the American promise wins out… But I don’t need to tell you that we’re not always at our best. We’re fallible. We fail and fall.”

After attorney general Merrick Garland announced on Thursday the appointment of a special counsel to look into how the president handled sensitive documents after leaving the vice presidency in 2017, Mr. Biden’s visit to Ebenezer comes at a delicate time.

Additional classified data were discovered at Mr. Biden’s residence close to Wilmington, Delaware, the White House announced on Saturday.

Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, who serves as the church’s senior pastor, introduced Mr. Biden and said that because the president is “a fervent Catholic,” “this Baptist service might be a little bit rowdy and lively.” But I noticed him clapping his hands over there.

Senator Warnock referred to Mr. King as “the greatest American prophet of the 20th century” and he served as co-pastor from 1960 till his murder in 1968.