Human rights activist Martin Luther King III said that protesters are finally now being heard, after he recently tweeted, “As my father explained during his lifetime, a riot is the language of the unheard.”
King said that the protests after George Floyd’s death will not change racial inequities in America right away, but can be impactful within a short period of time.
“I believe the entire nation, and really the world is focused on this issue … the question really is: what will those changes be? And it is clear that our nation is poised for change —and responsible change. Obviously, you cannot change institutional racism overnight. It’s a process,” he said to CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
King said that there needs to be dialogue between civil rights leaders and the White House, citing when his father, Martin Luther King Jr., held meetings with Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.
After delays across Georgia during its primary yesterday led to voters spending hours in line, King added that “there’s no question” that voter suppression exists and that it disproportionally affects black Americans.
“If we don’t deal with voter suppression, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the election in November … We should be making it much easier for people to vote, and we’re not as a nation,” he said.
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