Martin Luther King Jr.’s son: My father would be ‘very excited’ to see student-led movements

Martin Luther King III said his father would be “very excited” to see current student-led movements against gun violence.

On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, his son said the civil rights leader would be “disappointed” with some of the current political discourse but excited about the future.

{mosads}“I think he’d be disappointed with some of the discourse that we see [today] but he’d be very excited to see the high school student-led movements,” King said Wednesday. “He’d be very excited about the “Me Too” movement. He’d be very excited about what Black Lives Matter is doing, all of these nonviolent movements.”

“He would know that we as a nation can, must and will do better,” he added.

Martin Luther King III’s 9-year-old daughter, Yolanda, appeared with her father on “Good Morning America” Wednesday to honor her grandfather.

“I think that he would be impressed about all the work that we’re doing but we’re not where we’re supposed to be,” Yolanda King said.

Yolanda stepped onto the national stage last month when she advocated for gun control during the March for Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C.

She appeared with student survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting who organized the event to push for stricter gun laws.

“My grandfather had a dream that his four little children would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” she said in March. “I have a dream that enough is enough, and that this should be a gun-free world, period.”

Yolanda’s mother, Arndrea Waters King, said Wednesday that it was a “difficult” decision to allow her daughter to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps.

“It was a bit difficult but because she has been so interested in the issue for so long and so passionate about it and wanted to do it, it was natural,” Arndrea King said.

King family members are gathered in Memphis on the 50th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination at the Lorraine Motel. 

President Trump released a one-minute video in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. declaring that “the promise he fought for could never be taken away.”