Dr. Alveda King: Protest is necessary but it must be prayerful and peaceful
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s niece Dr. Alveda King shares her message about what protests should really be about amid the George Floyd unrest.
While protest against police brutality and the death of George Floyd is necessary, it must be both peaceful and done with prayer, Evangelist Dr. Alveda King said Friday.
In an interview on "Fox & Friends" with host Ainsley Earhardt, King -- the niece of Martin Luther King Jr. -- said Thursday's memorial service honoring Floyd's legacy had reminded her of her father's words.
"I'm reminded of my father, Reverend Alfred Daniel Williams King, standing on a car in 1963 after our home in Birmingham, Alabama had been burned…[and] fire-bombed," she recalled. "And, Dad stood on the car and he [said,] ‘If you must hit someone, hit me. But, I would rather you go home and pray. My family and I are fine.’"
King said that Floyd's brother Terrence was correct in calling for justice.
"Terrence is correct. Protest is necessary. It's required at this time. It must be prayerful. It must be peaceful," she affirmed. "Leaders have to be calming the masses. Not saying, ‘Don't protest.’ I'm protesting."
Martin Luther King III takes a moment by George Floyd's casket Thursday, June 4, 2020, before a memorial service for George Floyd in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
King also pointed out that Floyd's death has served as a beacon highlighting other unjust acts at the hands of law enforcement agents across the country.
"What has happened has been wrong. Not just to George Floyd, [though] certainly to George. There are others who have experienced that same fate," she continued.
King cited an incident in Atlanta in which two African-American college students were stopped as they were driving home from a protest, tased, and removed from their car, though posing no threat. Six of the officers involved were charged with excessive force and two were fired.
"We know that it has nothing really to do with skin color because we had African-American policemen…attack African-American college students in Atlanta…tasing them and roughing them up and breaking the young man’s hand because they were out on the street after curfew returning to their homes," she commented. "And, they were not violently protesting."
"So, this has to stop," King told Earhardt. "But, we have to pray."
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"And leadership...whether you are just a leader of your own household, whether you are on your job, a minister, an elected official, whoever you are -- a CEO of a corporation -- let's assure each other," she urged. "Let's calm each other."
"Violence is immoral. Martin Luther King Jr. did say that. And, by me as a Christian knowing Christ, I know we have to be prayerful not fearful, and not violent," King concluded.
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