When President Donald Trump’s inauguration coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, his daughter Rev. Bernice A. King took to social media and news outlets. Her message was not to criticize or tune out the 47th president but to encourage those who may disagree with Trump to listen to his vision for the United States.
More than a month later, Trump’s plans for the civil service, foreign aid, immigration, and the nonprofit sector, among other issues, have become clearer. King strongly recommends that those in the nonprofit sector who feel threatened remain attuned to the federal government — while strategizing quietly, choosing language carefully, and building broad and faith-based coalitions.
King is the fourth and youngest child of MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King. She is head of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta and an attorney and minister. The King Center was founded by her mother in 1968. It moved from the couple’s home to its current location in downtown Atlanta in 1981. The family has since worked with the National Park Service, which runs the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park. In his first term, Trump signed a 2017 law that redesignated the Martin Luther King. Jr. Historic Site as a national park. The National Park Service also has owned MLK Jr.'s childhood home since 2018.
The King Center holds roughly $15.5 million in total assets and receives funding from federal, state, and local government agencies as well as the public. Over the years, operations at the King Center have been affected by increased polarization in Congress, which has led to battles over annual federal appropriations, according to King. The center has become accustomed to delayed funding, King said. It is unclear to what extent the Trump administration’s downsizing of federal funding and agency staff will impact the King Center, she added.
Bernice King says her life’s work is to share her father’s teachings about nonviolent resistance. The civil rights movement of the 1940s to1960s encouraged resistance to racial segregation and discrimination with an overall strategy that included tactics such as civil disobedience, marches, protests, boycotts, “freedom rides,” the use of mass media, and litigation.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently met with King to discuss how progressive nonprofit, foundation, and faith leaders can navigate this moment of political change by revisiting and reflecting on the work of her father and other civil rights leaders.
What are your thoughts about the recent executive actions that have ended federally funded diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and signaled a willingness to investigate organizations engaged in such work?
I think everybody has to start looking at language. It doesn’t mean you have to go do away with your core mission, but you’re going to have to wordsmith to get through this season. I’m going to say it is a season, and it’s going to be a long one, and people are going to have to look at ways to be creative.
A lot of times when adversity like this comes along, it’s an opportunity to innovate. It’s obvious we’re diverse. You don’t even have to say it. I mean, when I walk in a room, I can tell that people are not like me. Now I don’t have to say, “Oh, we’re different.” I know that. So I don’t have to call it diversity or inclusion.
That’s why it’s important that we not brush off and ignore what Trump is saying. You need to hear his language. It’s like Esther in the Bible. She had to go before the king when there was an opening. You’ve got to understand where the opening is, when the opening is. And in this case, it’s understanding what language they are using and what are they favoring.
I believe this is a very important time for faith efforts, couching things under faith terms, because they’re pushing all this faith stuff. I think there’s a role for people to resist because you can’t let darkness just exist and not shine a light. I believe in that. But I also believe you’ve got to have some parallel tracks, or at least be coordinated with parallel tracks, to work on some other things that can fit under the banner of where this administration is, albeit it is very dangerous, damning, damaging, harmful, hurtful, unjust, and some of it is just evil.
What would you say to people who criticize nonprofits and foundations for scrubbing DEI and other language from their websites and messaging?
What I’m saying is something that my father said to Stokely Carmichael when they were marching into Mississippi. Stokely was really heavy on chanting “Black power.” And Daddy says, “Stokely, you know, words have connotative and denotative meanings. I know what you mean. I know where you’re coming from. But the words ‘Black power’ right now come with so much from a connotative place. You don’t want it to get caught up in that conversation.”
Leaders have to be concerned about semantics. There’s another way to frame where we’re trying to go. So study. My father has jewels all throughout his writings and his speeches that people are missing, over and over again. God created all of us, and he does things in different kinds of ways. And through Martin Luther King Jr., his vessel, he left these powerful words. My mother used to tell people: “Read Martin first. It’s there.” Now, Stokely didn’t listen, but [my father] gave him a lot to think about.
Do you see opportunities for conservative and progressive nonprofits to work together and educate the public about the role of nonprofits in the Trump era?
I think the opportunity is there. The question is if people have the will and the stomach for it. I listen to Fox News from time to time. It provided me some valuable information and insight that I need. I hear it all the time, people like, “I don’t want to hear what [Trump’s] got to say.” No, I sat there and listened to that speech. He said what he was going to do.
What are your recommendations for developing strategy?
Don’t tell your strategy. That’s when we mess up. There’s an election in two years, midterm elections. And it can’t be the same old, same old. I wouldn’t talk about it here. There has to be a strategy to shorten the duration of the damage, even though I believe there’s going to be irreparable harm. It’s already started. But how do we recover from this, and how do we emerge with something new and powerful that can restore and heal and uplift people holistically?
That’s not easy work, and we live in a time where everything is quick, fast, and in a hurry. So show me who you are. Don’t tell me, just show me who you are. And I think that’s what we’re talking about now. Harriet Tubman built the Underground Railroad. Nobody knew. By the time they caught up, she was already headed up there. I said this to some people a few years ago, I said, “It’s time to build the Underground Railroad again, whatever that is, however that looks.”
This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
