King family: ‘Difficult decision’ to attend Biden’s voting rights speech

“It’s been a long year of a lot of things not being done, and we stand and we share that frustration,” Arndrea Waters King said.

Martin Luther King III and his wife Arndrea Waters King acknowledged Tuesday that it was a “difficult decision” for them to attend President Joe Biden’s upcoming speech on voting rights, an event several high-profile activists are skipping because of what they view as the White House’s inaction on the issue.

“We certainly understand the frustration of our local partners here in Georgia,” Arndrea Waters King told MSNBC in an interview. “It’s been a long year of a lot of things not being done, and we stand and we share that frustration.”

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are scheduled to speak Tuesday afternoon at the Atlanta University Center Consortium — on the campuses of two historically Black colleges, Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College — where they will push for the passage of two federal voting rights bills that remain stalled in the Senate.

Many civil rights leaders will appear in person for Biden’s and Harris’ remarks, including Rainbow PUSH Coalition founder Rev. Jesse Jackson, National Action Network founder Rev. Al Sharpton, National Urban League President Marc Morial and NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson.

But a number of voting rights activists have declined to attend Biden’s speech, which the White House has underscored as evidence of the president’s commitment to reforming the nation’s voting laws following the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection and in advance of the 2022 midterm elections.

Read the full article on Politico.