The son of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday denounced Vice President Mike Pence for using King's iconic "I Have a Dream" speech to champion President Donald Trump's demand for a border wall.
During a breakfast honoring the late civil rights leader, Martin Luther King III said his father "was a bridge builder, not wall builder," the Washington Times reported.
"Martin Luther King Jr. would say, 'Love, not hate, will make America great,'" his son said.
In his speech, King lamented a national holiday honoring his father was taking place during a partial government shutdown, the news outlet reported.
"I don't know how we celebrate when everyday workers can't work," he said. "The Coast Guard can't even get paid. And nobody seems to care. There's something wrong with that."
"Many of us have to go through airports today, and every day less and less [Transportation Security Administration] folks are showing up," he said. "I don't blame them. They've got to figure out how to make ends meet because the government is shut down."
"So, we observe Dr. King's birthday, we don't celebrate it," he added. "We can't celebrate it as long as there's police brutality and misconduct. We can't celebrate as long as children are being divided from their families."
In remarks to CBS's "Face The Nation" on Sunday, Pence compared King to Trump during a discussion of the shutdown.
"You know the hearts and minds of the American people today are thinking a lot about it being the weekend where we remember the life and work of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," Pence said.
"But one of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, 'Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.' You think of how he changed America. He inspired us to change through the legislative process to become a more perfect union. That's exactly what President Trump is calling on the Congress to do. Come to the table in a spirit of good faith. We'll secure our border, we'll reopen the government and we'll move our nation forward."
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