WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders attacking multicultural democracy Monday, Rev. Al Sharpton led a fiery speech defending civil rights and vowing to push back against Trump’s far-right agenda.
While Trump took a moment during his inauguration speech to highlight his Black supporters, he claimed to honor Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “In his honor we will strive together to make his dream a reality, we will make his dream come true,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, four miles away inside the historic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) church that Rosa Parks and Frederick Douglass both once attended, Rev. Al Sharpton shot down false claims that the majority of Black men would vote for Trump.
“The fact of the matter is that did not happen,” Sharpton said referring to the 78% of Black male voters who selected Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris as their candidate. “Under the four years that you were in before, George Floyd happened. Ahmaud Arbery was killed in Brunswick, Georgia. Breonna Taylor happened. You never stood up one time for justice for any of them.”
Trump faces immediate push back on birthright citizenship executive order
Declaring an emergency at the Mexican border, reclassifying federal workers to become easier to fire, reversing Biden’s orders on climate and racial equity, limiting almost all forms of immigration were just some of the record number of executive orders Trump signed on day one of his administration.
The same day Elon Musk performed what appeared to be a Nazi salute, Trump also signaled opposition to democracy and an embrace of authoritarian rule.
Trump launched a direct assault on the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution with an executive order rescinding birthright citizenship for children of immigrants.
Meanwhile, Rev. Sharpton highlighted the violent racism against Black Americans which made the 14th Amendment necessary.
“They lynched 5,000 Blacks between the end of Reconstruction and the 1950’s. They lynched more after slavery than during slavery. They didn’t kill us in slavery because they needed slaves,” he preached to hundreds of people who gathered from across the nation to rally.
On Tuesday, 22 states’ Democratic governors, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Defense Fund filed a series of lawsuits seeking to block implementation of the blatantly unconstitutional order.
“Today’s immediate lawsuit sends a clear message to the Trump administration that we will stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin stated.
Ultimately, as Trump launches a nationwide effort to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from all areas of federal government, Rev. Al Sharpton announced a joint effort to boycott companies that fall in line with his demands of exclusion.
“In the name of Dr. King we’re gonna do what Dr. King did. Trump tweeted the other week I’m a con man. No, call me the coin man. I’m gonna stop the coins from dropping in the wrong place,” he said to applause.
Civil rights leaders announce boycott against anti-DEI companies
Monday’s MLK Day rally came two days after the People’s March organized tens of thousands of people to voice their opposition to Trump’s agenda in the streets of D.C.
Along with other national civil rights leaders, Rev. Al Sharpton has announced a 90-day review is underway to identify and boycott companies–like McDonald’s, Amazon and Meta–that have reversed DEI initiatives.
Roughly 70 years after women leaders and Dr. King held the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which led to the desegregation of public transportation in the South, modern civil rights leaders seek to oppose Trump’s authoritarian agenda and revive Dr. King’s legacy to defend multicultural democracy.
“We sitting up here letting companies talk to us like we ain’t got no leverage. Take the base out your voice. Talk to me like I’m a grown man,” Rev. Sharpton said.
Notably, Dr. King’s daughter Bernice King urged Americans to remain vigilant against the white supremacist attacks on U.S. democracy underway in the Trump administration.
“Our hearts may become heavy-laden by disturbing policy decisions … I urge us to heed my father’s timeless call to remain awake through a great revolution,” she said.
As Trump placed Mark Zuckerburg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and other tech billionaires on the front row for his inauguration, civil rights leaders signaled their ready to take back the country from the control of oligarchs.
“Tell them some regular organizing people, Black and white, Latinos, gay and straight, came to Washington, the church, to put them on notice that we are not going to be turned around.
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