Martin Luther King family urges U.S. Senate to pass voting rights legislation

Americans must commit to the unfinished work of Martin Luther King Jr., delivering jobs and justice and protecting "the sacred right to vote, a right from which all other rights flow," U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday.

In a video address to mark Martin Luther King Day, the president said today is a moment when a mirror is held up to the United States.

"It's time for every elected official in America to make it clear where they stand," Biden said. "It's time for every American to stand up. Speak out, be heard. Where do you stand?"

Major holiday events included marches in several cities and the annual Martin Luther King Jr. service at the slain civil rights leader's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Pews have been packed by politicians in past years, but given the pandemic, many offered pre-recorded speeches instead.

This holiday marks what would have been the 93rd birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was just 39 when he was assassinated in 1968 while helping sanitation workers strike for better pay and workplace safety in Memphis, Tenn.

King's eldest son criticized Biden and Congress as a whole on Monday for failing to pass voting rights legislation, even as 19 Republican-led states have made it harder to vote in response to former president Donald Trump's false claims about election-rigging.

"You were successful with infrastructure, which is a great thing — but we need you to use that same energy to ensure that all Americans have the same unencumbered right to vote," Martin Luther King III said.

King's family and their supporters marched in Washington on Monday, urging passage of a bill to protect voters from racial discrimination.

As part of the annual MLK Day D.C. Peace Walk, the King family and more than 100 national and local civil rights groups strode across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge into downtown Washington.

Senate Republicans remain unified in opposition to the Democrats' voting bills. Biden described their stonewalling as part of "a true attack on our democracy, from the Jan. 6 insurrection to the onslaught of Republican anti-voting laws in a number of states."

"It's no longer just about who gets to vote. It's about who gets to count the vote. And whether your vote counts at all. It's about two insidious things: voter suppression and election subversion," Biden said.

In a separate speech live streamed to the late Rev. King's Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Vice-President Kamala Harris also urged the Senate to act, warning that efforts to restrict voting in some U.S. states could make it more difficult for millions of Americans to vote.

"The Senate must pass this bill now," she said. "Today, we must not be complacent or complicit."

Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, the Senate's only Black Republican, countered with a series of King Day-themed videos he said would emphasize positive developments on civil rights. Scott sidestepped criticism about his party's actions and accused Democrats of labelling Republican members as racists.