To counter injustice, Dr. Alveda King urges prayer, nonviolence 

As Minnesota marks Martin Luther King Jr. Day amid renewed civil unrest and heightened federal immigration enforcement, Dr. Alveda King, civil rights activist and niece of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., is calling for prayer, nonviolence, and moral clarity in a moment she says echoes the turbulence of the Civil Rights era.

Speaking with the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, King reflected on her family’s legacy and the lessons she believes remain urgently relevant as communities confront fear, anger and division.

“My prayers go out to all of the families and all of the people involved in any cases of civil unrest,” King said. “There has to be a point where people of prayer can begin to break through to the hearts of everyone involved.”

King, 75, grew up at the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement, surrounded by faith leaders who believed justice could not be separated from spiritual grounding. She emphasized that both her uncle, Dr. King, and her father, the Rev. A.D. King, rooted their activism in Christian faith and nonviolent resistance, even when facing direct violence.

“I remember as a little girl when there were threats of violence against us,” she said. “We prayed first, and then we tried to reach the hearts of all involved.”

One of her earliest memories of unrest came in 1963, when the family’s home in Birmingham, Alabama, also a church parsonage, was bombed. King recalled her father standing atop a car as chaos unfolded around him, urging residents to return home peacefully.

“My family and I are okay,” she remembered him saying. “If you have to hit someone, hit me, but go home and pray.”

She said the moment exposed a distinction that remains relevant today: the difference between community members reacting in fear and what she described as “outside agitators” who enter neighborhoods to sow chaos.

“That’s my first experience with people brought in from other places to create terror and violence,” King said.

King also reflected on another formative moment in 1974, when her grandmother, Alberta Williams King, was shot and killed inside Ebenezer Baptist Church by a disturbed gunman. Rather than seeking vengeance, King said her grandfather, the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., chose forgiveness, visiting the shooter in jail and advocating against the death penalty.

“We want to pick an enemy,” King said. “But the real enemy is fear, rage and violence.”

As Minnesota grapples with tensions surrounding federal immigration enforcement and law enforcement presence, King cautioned against framing institutions or groups as singular enemies. She drew parallels to the 1960s, when the National Guard was deployed during periods of unrest — moves that were controversial even then.

“I don’t believe the answer is pitting ourselves against each other,” she said. “Some people want ICE to be the enemy. Some people just want violence. But we must seek higher answers.”

King clarified that she was not absolving institutions of accountability, but urging a different response, one grounded in faith rather than retaliation. “I did not say that ICE is not the enemy,” she said. “I said we must pray.”

When asked how prayer and faith could alter the current trajectory, King pointed to modern examples of collective spiritual action: flash prayer gatherings, singing, worship, moments she says have a tangible calming effect during volatile situations.

“When people begin to pray together, to sing together, to worship, things do calm down,” she said. “We need more of that.”

This year marks 40 years since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was formally recognized as a federal holiday, a milestone King says should prompt reflection, not just celebration. “I ask the people of Minnesota to continue to pray, continue to trust God,” she said. “Let us move forward together in faith and in prayer, to avert violence and tragedy.”

King firmly rejected the idea that “an eye for an eye” leads to justice, invoking her uncle’s teachings and Christian doctrine. “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword,” she said. “There is a more excellent way: faith, hope, love, repentance, forgiveness.”

Now in what she describes as a quieter chapter of life, King says her focus remains on encouragement, especially of young people. “I’m inspired by the youth,” she said. “That’s where my life is these days.”

As Minnesota reflects on Dr. King’s legacy amid unrest, Alveda King’s message remains consistent with the movement that shaped her life: progress rooted not in fear or force, but in faith, discipline, and moral resolve.

Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@spokesman-recorder.com.