President Trump explaining why the day is important

It was exactly three years ago today, January 20, 2017, that I was sworn into office. So appropriate that today is also MLK jr DAY. African-American Unemployment is the LOWEST in the history of our Country, by far. Also, best Poverty, Youth, and Employment numbers, ever. Great!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2020

Trump showing proper respect

From CNN White Houses reporter, Kaitlan Collins:

President Trump and Vice President Pence just made an unannounced trip to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington. They stood in front of it for approximately 30 seconds with their heads bowed before turning and leaving without making remarks.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 20, 2020

Comment-of-the-day: Kelly Ann Conway explains what King would now be concerned about if he were still alive

From today’s Washington Post:

In his nearly two decades of activism, Martin Luther King Jr. fought against a number of contentious issues — from segregation and racial discrimination to dangerous conditions for sanitation workers.

But if the civil rights leader were still alive, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said, he would be speaking out against another topic dividing the country: the impeachment of President Trump.

“I don’t think it was within Dr. King’s vision to have Americans dragged through a process where the president is not going to be removed from office, is not being charged with bribery, extortion, high crimes or misdemeanors,” she told reporters on Monday.

Here’s the video from NBC News:

WATCH: Asked about President Trump observing #MLKDay today, Kellyanne Conway discusses MLK's values and the impeachment effort against President Trump. pic.twitter.com/jwnrIO5OVt

— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 21, 2020

Local Ogden editor mails in his annual King Day column on prejudice

On Sunday, Mike Myer gave us another variation of his annual King Day column on prejudice. As he has in the past, Myer acknowledged the problem but offered little in the way of a solution. The column, which includes his often-repeated anecdote about local prejudice, began with the openness of the racism:

Give the bigots credit for one thing: They don’t try to hide.

As I’ve observed when I’ve responded to his previous columns on racism, its openness is at least partly a result of having a president who seldom condemns such attitudes. Myer can complain about prejudice, but his papers have been editorially silent about the president’s encouragement of such actions. As I wrote in 2018:

President Donald Trump's comments have given the green light to racists; it’s now okay to be openly prejudiced. And while Myer claims to care about the continuing presence of bigotry and racism, his complete lack of any criticism of the president’s racist rants only serves as a reaffirmation of the president’s prejudiced words. So when Myer concludes that we need “to find a way to deal with it,” the words ring hollow. Most of us do what we can on an individual basis but few of us have the audience that a newspaper editor has. By criticizing Trump’s racist statements, this editor, who is known for his support of the president might get at least some readers to think about and question their own beliefs. Myer could do something, but he won’t. Despite what he writes, he clearly wants credit for patting himself "on the back for admitting there’s a problem."