Dr. Alveda King is director of African American Outreach at Priests for Life and a member of American Life League's board of advisors.
When President Barack Obama was inaugurated on January 21 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - he placed his hand on Bibles once owned by my uncle, Reverend King, and by President Abraham Lincoln, the great emancipator. The historic struggle for African Americans' equality under the law was represented at this ceremony by the Holy Scriptures belonging to the man who freed the slaves and the man who led the civil rights movement. The fulfillment of this struggle would be represented by our nation's first black president. Unfortunately, the gesture was not symbolic. It was ironic.
Date posted: 2013-02-17