Last Updated Jan 15, 2018 10:11 AM EST
Members of the Trump administration are honoring the memory of civil rights champion Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday as the nation commemorates MLK Day. Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, FBI Director Christopher Wray and King’s son, Martin Luther King III, delivered remarks at the MLK Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“Dr. King understood no man is an island and that we rise and fall together,” said Director Wray, telling crowds at the memorial the ways his bureau is improving its relations with the communities it serves.
He added, “lack of equal opportunity hurts all of us, discrimination against one person hurts the whole community and hate against one becomes hate against all.”
Secretary Zinke called Dr. King a “christian soldier of righteousness.” “His dream was a fully integrated America, where all people, all faiths, genders religions, people could share in the bounty of this great nation,” Zinke said.
“We all have an obligation to make sure our with for justice, equality, the battle that we face every day is fought and won bc it is deeply rooted in us as a people,” added Zinke, “I’m confident that we can.”
“I’m confident that we must. For we are all God’s children and it is absolutely appropriate that we understand and remember the greatness of Dr. King.”
A wreath laying also took place to mark Dr. King’s 89th birthday.
Vice President Mike Pence had visited the MLK memorial on Sunday for private reflection with his wife Karen. The two laid a wreath of their own at the statue of Dr. King.
On Monday, the president’s daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr. both shared messages honoring Dr. King on social media.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders also shared a memory of the day, writing “Twenty years ago as a student at Central High I watched President Bill Clinton and my dad Mike Huckabee open the doors for the Little Rock Nine – the same doors that had previously been closed to them because they were black. A moment I’ll never forget.”
Meanwhile, President Trump is expected to return back the White House Monday evening after spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Late Sunday evening he refuted claims that he was racist for using vulgar language to describe immigrants from El Salvador, Haiti and African nations.
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