Politics

EXCLUSIVE: MLK’s Niece Says Biden Speaks From A Different Reality In Saying Floyd’s Death Had A Bigger Impact Than MLK’s Assassination

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• Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece criticized 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden Friday for saying George Floyd’s death had a bigger impact than the MLK assassination in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
• Alveda King spoke out after the former vice president said Thursday that “even Dr. King’s assassination did not have the worldwide impact that George Floyd’s death did.”
• “I believe that Mr. Biden continues to speak from his basement from a reality that is different from what’s happening in the real world,” King said. “Why is it necessary to compare Martin Luther King Jr. And George Floyd?”

Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke from from a different reality when he commented that George Floyd’s death has had a greater worldwide impact than Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, King’s niece said in an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Advocate, activist, author, and speaker Alveda King reacted to the presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee’s statement Thursday that “even Dr. King’s assassination did not have the worldwide impact that George Floyd’s death did.”

“I believe that Mr. Biden continues to speak from his basement, from a reality that is different from what’s happening in the real world,” King told the DCNF over the phone. “Why is it necessary to compare Martin Luther King Jr. And George Floyd?”

King emphasized that both Floyd and her uncle shared a commonality in that they were “both from God fearing families,” saying that this is “something Mr. Biden should recognize.” (RELATED: Biden Says MLK’s Assassination ‘Did Not Have The Worldwide Impact That George Floyd’s Death Did’)

Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody May 25 after an officer knelt on his neck for more than 8 minutes, according to a video. Since his death, cities across the U.S. as well as in Europe and Australia have seen protests, sometimes leading to rioting and looting.

King said Floyd’s death was unjust, as was her uncle’s and her own father’s.

“George Floyd was killed unjustly. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed unjustly. My father Reverend Alfred Daniel Williams King was killed unjustly. My grandmother, Alberta Williams King was killed unjustly. I mourn and grieve with the family of George Floyd. I still miss my beloved family members,” King said.

King said she believes that the coronavirus pandemic has been used to “put fear and confusion into the world” and that George Floyd’s death has been used to “bring about anarchy.” The response to the unrest over Floyd’s death, she said she has told her friends, is not violence but love.

“Jesus Christ hung on the cross between two felons, one felon said, ‘remember me’ and Jesus said to him, ‘you will be with me in paradise today,'” she added. “That’s Jubilee. That’s what Jesus was about. That’s what Martin Luther King Jr was about.”

Jesus hung on the cross between two felons. Was killed by police officers. Said “FATHER FORGIVE THEM.” Is anyone getting JUBILEE out of this?

— Evangelist Alveda King (@AlvedaCKing) June 11, 2020

“I wonder if Uncle Joe, as they call him, understands Jubilee and redemption,” she added.

King, the daughter of Martin Luther King’s younger brother, Alfred Daniel “A.D.” King, said the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and her father showed her to answer agony and pain with hope and truth, she said.

“My daddy, AD King was killed and my uncle Martin was killed. But I lived through those race wars and I saw each of them in their own way. They taught me how to be Christ-like and nonviolent. So that means I answer pain, and agony, and anger, and injustice with faith, hope and love. And that’s what the leaders of this nation need to be doing — to continue to speak hope, speak truth, and to listen to the pain,” King said.

AD King was present when his brother was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968, and Alveda King says that her father was also killed.

“They killed my brother. I’m gonna find out who did it,” Alveda King overheard her father say over the phone on the night of July 20, 1969, the Seattle Times reported. The next morning, AD King’s body was discovered at the bottom of the family’s swimming pool.

King described to the DCNF how her family’s house was bombed in 1963 when she was 12 years old. Her father stood on a car and told those who came to avenge the bombing, “I would rather you go home and pray,” she said.

“We were in the house when it was bombed,” she said, referring the DCNF to a video describing the incident. “I lived through that moment,” she said.

Like her father, King said she advocates for love over violence.

“I lived through the race wars of the 20th century,” she said. “I actually lived through the race wars.”

One blood. One human race. One GOD. pic.twitter.com/lks7JeaqJj

— Evangelist Alveda King (@AlvedaCKing) June 11, 2020

“We can’t be color blind,” she added. “You need to see color. God designs color. And it’s a beautiful distinction, but it’s designed for us to live together.”

When one of King’s caucasian friends asked how to respond to her neighborhood putting up Black Lives Matter Signs, King said she told her to get the biggest sign possible and put it on her lawn with a biblical quote: “Love never fails.”

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.