This year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and the swearing-in of President Donald Trump will be on the same day, a quirk of the federal calendar that isn’t lost on the Republican president-elect’s supporters or detractors.
“I think it’s one of the great coincidences of American history that President Trump will be sworn in on MLK Day this year,” said Michael Byrne, co-chair of the state chapter of America First Republicans, a pro-Trump group.
“Great” is not the word Larry Hamm would use.
Hamm, founder of the Newark-based People’s Organization for Progress, has organized the rally and march to mark King’s birth for the past 35 years, including one scheduled for Jan. 18.
This year’s event, dubbed “A Martin Luther King March of Resistance,” has been endorsed by more than 200 civil rights and community groups, labor union locals, churches, academic and professional organizations, Hamm said Thursday.
That is more than twice as many as any MLK march in the past, reflecting what Hamm and others say is concern over rhetoric and policy proposals by Trump that could impact people of color, those with low incomes, immigrants, members of the LGBTQ+ community and others.
“We have a different theme every year for King’s march,” said Hamm, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in New Jersey’s Democratic primary in June. “This year, it’s called ‘the March of Resistance.’ That’s not an accident.”
The dual scheduling is the result of federal law. Presidential inaugurations have a constitutionally mandated date of Jan. 20 and the official celebration of King’s birth falls on the third Monday of January.
King was born in Atlanta on Jan. 15, 1929, and was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. His birthday became a federal holiday in 1986, under legislation signed by Republican President Ronald Reagan.
Newark’s King march attracts crowds of varying sizes, depending in part on the severity of the weather. But Hamm said this year could see a large turnout, given the 211 organizations that have committed to encouraging members to attend.
“My political sense tells me, that yes, more people will come out because of the election,” Hamm said.
Groups endorsing the rally include the New Jersey Poor People’s Campaign; Seton Hall University Martin Luther King Scholarship Association; The City of Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery; Communications Workers of America Locals 1037 and 1077; Mothers of Murdered Sons And Daughters, or MOMSAD; and state and local chapters of the NAACP.
“We intend to harness the power of the community so we can collectively ward off the threats that will impact our lives,” Deborah Smith Gregory, president of the NAACP’s Newark chapter, said in a statement. “We urge Newark residents to lift up the work of Dr. King by participating in this March of Resistance.”
Hamm said speakers to be announced will address the marchers during a noon rally on the steps of the Historic Essex County Courthouse. A march will follow, heading down Springfield Avenue and onto Market Street, before turning around at Broad Street — also known as Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson Boulevard — and returning to the courthouse.
Hamm will remind participants of several pieces of landmark civil rights legislation associated with King that have come under attack since their passage. They include the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act 1965, and the Higher Education Act of 1965, which provides aid for poor students, but has not been reauthorized since 2008.
Regarding Trump, Hamm and others say they have been alarmed by talk of eliminating the federal Department of Education, which distributes federal aid to school districts, colleges and individual students.
“It’s going to be a tough four years,” Hamm said.
But Byrne said Hamm is “out of step” with Essex County’s changing electorate, and pointed to reports of increasing support for Trump since his first presidential bid in 2016.
While Harris easily beat Trump in Essex last month by a vote of 208,985 to 79,744, the vote was narrower than Joe Biden’s 266,820 to 75,475 win over Trump in 2020, and much closer than Hillary Clinton’s 240,837 to 63,176 margin over Trump in 2016, according to NorthJersey.com.
Byrne said Trump’s proposal for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants would create job opportunities for unemployed or low-income Americans. Scaling back or eliminating the Department of Education wouldn’t necessarily mean reduced aid to schools, Byrne said, only reduced bureaucracy.
“I think there are lot of issues where Larry could find common ground with President Trump,” said Byrne. “I think now is not a time for resistance, I think it’s a time for coming together.”
But Hamm said this was no time to give up the fight.
“If Dr. King were alive today,” Hamm said, “he would say, ‘Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the ring.’”
A statue of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stands outside the Essex County Hall of Records. Larry Hamm, founder of the People’s Organization for Progress and the organizer of Newark’s annual MLK march, said several pieces of landmark legislation pushed by King before his assassination in 1968 have been eroded by court rulings, lax enforcement and resistance from public and private entities. Aristide Economopoulos | NJ Advance Media For NJ.com
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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com
