Bernice King speaks on father’s legacy as Trump inauguration falls on MLK Day

Inauguration Day 2025 falls on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It honors the late civil rights leader and is the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service. 

The youngest of MLK’s four children, Bernice King — the CEO of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change — told MSNBC’s “The Weekend” on Saturday, Jan. 18, that this time of transition in the U.S. is also a good time to remember her father’s legacy. 

“I think it’s wonderful that this occurs on the King holiday — the inauguration — because it reminds us of King. It points us back to King. It says, ‘When we move forward, we’ve got to do it in the spirit of King,’” Bernice King said. 

She added, “Many people talk about doing the work of Dr. King, but I always ask, ‘Are you doing it in the spirit of Dr. King?’ In the spirit of Dr. King is nonviolence and nonviolence is not just a posture. It’s a mindset for us. We define it as a love-centered way of thinking, speaking, acting, and engaging that leads to personal, cultural, and societal transformation. So, it works on you first. You have to be in the right frame of reference to fight these injustices so that you don’t become like the unjust.” 

Martin Luther King III, MLK’s eldest son, spoke to “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Jan. 19. He said for Trump to create unity, he needs to be “in dialogue with everybody…and you need to set that tone” in his inauguration address.

“If you said you wanted to be a uniter, then those who didn’t support you, you need to reach out to them or allow them to reach out to you,” Martin Luther King III said.

MLK Day is observed each year on the third Monday in January. In 1983, former President Ronald Reagan signed the King Holiday Bill to establish the federal holiday, after it was first introduced four days after his assassination in 1968. The holiday was first observed in 1986.

This will be just the third time Inauguration Day falls on MLK Day. The first was in 1997 for former President Bill Clinton’s second inauguration, and the second was in 2013 for former President Barack Obama’s second inauguration.