Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., has forcefully rejected President Donald Trump’s assertion that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 harmed white Americans.
She is calling the claim “just wrong” and “dangerous” during a Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service in Atlanta, Georgia.
Addressing a packed audience gathered to honor her father’s legacy, Dr. King warned that framing the landmark civil rights law as discriminatory against white Americans distorts history and risks deepening racial divisions in the United States.
“We confront the killing of good. We must also confront the killing of truth,” she said. “The recent claim by President Trump that the 1964 Civil Rights Act harmed white Americans is just wrong, and it’s dangerous. It rewrites history in a way that fuels fear and resentment.”
Defending the Purpose of the Civil Rights Act
Dr. King emphasized that the Civil Rights Act was never intended to grant special privileges to Black Americans or any other group. Instead, she said, it was designed to make discrimination illegal and to ensure equal protection under the law for all people.
“The Civil Rights Act did not give Black people special treatment,” she told the gathering. “It made discrimination illegal. It required the law to protect everyone equally. That is democracy.”
She recalled the sacrifices made by leaders of the civil rights movement, including Fred Shuttlesworth, Diane Nash and the late Congressman John Lewis, noting that they risked their lives to expand freedom, not to divide the nation.
“They did not risk their lives to divide this nation,” Dr. King said. “They did so because America was denying millions basic rights — the right to work, the right to vote, to live where they please, to move through society with dignity.”
Warning Against “Politics of Fear”
Directly addressing white Americans, Dr. King rejected the notion that fairness and equality come at their expense.
“To my white brothers and sisters, the Civil Rights Act was never meant to harm you,” she said. “It was meant to heal a nation broken by injustice. Fairness does not steal from you. Justice strengthens us all.”
She cautioned against what she described as the “politics of fear” — narratives that pit Americans against one another and suggest that inclusion weakens the country.
“America is stronger when more people are included, when we are united in respect and love, not when we retreat in fear,” she said. “The beloved community is not built by blaming one another. It’s built by protecting the dignity of everyone.”
A Broader National Debate
Dr. King’s remarks come amid renewed national debate over civil rights, diversity policies and the legacy of 1960s-era legislation. President Trump has recently suggested that civil rights laws enacted during that period led to discrimination against white Americans — a position that civil rights advocates and historians have strongly disputed.
By invoking her father’s vision and the original intent of the Civil Rights Act, Dr. King framed the moment as a test of whether the nation will uphold or retreat from hard-won gains.
“And so on this King holiday,” she concluded, “we are not going backwards. We are not going backwards.”
