Martin Luther King III arrested, later released after voting rights protest outside White House

Martin Luther King III, son of the late civil rights activist and icon Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was arrested and released Wednesday by U.S. Park Police after peacefully protesting for voting rights in front of the White House. TheGrio was on the ground in Washington while more than 60 others were also arrested with King. 

Some of the protesters were under the age of 18 and were taken away by police, however, they were not processed. The granddaughter of Dr. King Jr., Yolanda King, joined her parents on the front lines of the march but due to her age was not arrested. 

“My father, John Lewis and so many others opened doors so that we’d have the right to vote. And tragically, our states are making it very difficult for people to vote,” Martin Luther King III exclusively told theGrio. 

TheGrio asked King if there are concerns about new state leadership in Virginia, a state that just a few months ago became the first in the south to pass a voting rights protection package in response to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling in Shelby v. Holder that significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

King believes it is a possibility that the Voting Rights Act of Virginia, signed into law earlier this year by then-Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, will be “decimated just as it has been done at the federal level when the Supreme Court did it in 2013.”

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Arndrea Waters King, wife of Martin Luther King III, highlighted the important role Black women play in maintaining America’s democracy. 

“Black women will continue to show up. We will continue to show our power,” Waters King told theGrio. “But now it’s time for America to show up for us.”

Read the full article on theGrio.