Martin Luther King’s daughter hits back at Steve Bannon’s claim he would have been proud of Trump

Martin Luther King’s daughter Bernice has hit back at the suggestion by Steve Bannon that her father would approve of Donald Trump.

Bannon, the President’s former top strategist, said in an interview with the BBC that the civil rights icon would have backed his ex-boss’s economic policies, which he claimed had benefited the black community.

In an interview with the BBC’s Newsnight programme he said: ‘If you look at the policies of Donald Trump, anybody – Martin Luther King – would be proud of him, of what he’s done for the black and Hispanic community for jobs.’

Steve Bannon claimed Martin Luther King would have been ‘proud’ of what he claimed were Donald Trump’s achievements for the black community 

Bernice King said Bannon 'wholly ignores' her father's  'commitment to people of all races, nationalities, etc. being treated with dignity and respect'

Bernice King said Bannon ‘wholly ignores’ her father’s  ‘commitment to people of all races, nationalities, etc. being treated with dignity and respect’

Interviewer Emily Maitlis then challenging him, asking: ‘You think Martin Luther King would be proud of Donald Trump?’

‘You don’t think Martin Luther King would sit there and go: yes, you’re putting young black men and women to work?’ Mr Bannon replied.

‘The lowest unemployment we’ve had in history, and wages are starting to rise among the working class, and you finally stop the illegal alien labor force that’s coming in and competing with them every day, and destroying the schools and destroying the healthcare? Absolutely.’

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his 'I Have a Dream' speech

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech

But Bernice King later said on Twiter, the idea that her father would have supported Mr Trump ran contrary to his values.

It ‘wholly ignores Daddy’s commitment to people of all races, nationalities, etc. being treated with dignity and respect,’ she said.

‘My father’s concerns were not sectional, but global. 

‘He was an activist for the civil rights of Black people in America, but he was also an activist for human rights.’

‘In addition, he would never pit one group against another in the struggle for justice, as Bannon attempts to use him to do in discussing those he termed as “illegal aliens” and Black people.

‘My father would be extremely disturbed by the climate created by leaders, who have emboldened people to easily express and demonstrate cruelty, predominantly toward people of color and immigrant.’

Bernice King, 55, was five-years-old when her father was assassinated in Memphis in June 1968.

She is herself a minister and in 2009, was the first woman elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 2009, a position held by her father.

Dr King is also the CEO of the The Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

 

 



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