In an interview Monday on The Tennessee Star Report Michael Patrick Leahy – live broadcast Friday morning on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Leahy welcomed special guest, Alveda King, who is an American activist, author, and former state representative for the 28th District in the Georgia House of Representatives .
King is the niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and daughter of a civil rights activist. Currently, Miss King serves as the Executive Director for the Civil Rights for the Unborn.
Towards the end of the second segment, Miss King talked about her work as a Christian-Evangelist advocating for the civil rights of the unborn and urged listeners to communicate and to be kind to one another.
Leahy: We are joined now by Alveda King, the niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King she’s also former state representative in Georgia. She’s involved in the Civil Rights for the Unborn. That’s a 501-C3 called Priests for Life. Welcome, Alveda King to the Tennessee Star Report.
King: Well good morning to you and all your listeners. Hi everybody.
Leahy: Miss King, I’m really struck by the website, the Civil Rights for the Unborn. There’s a quote there from your late uncle Dr. Martin Luther King junior. ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’
King: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Leahy: And you’ve made that you’re life work it looks like.
King: Well, not my life’s work. I’m a Christian-evangelist. So my life’s work of course now for the last several years has involved with letting people know about the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the matter of birth and life and death are all very sacred concepts within that.
And my uncle, Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a minister who also led a civil rights movement. So that involves not just the pro-life issue or what’s happening at the borders or immigration or all of those things. What you find is one blood race of people on this planet.
One human race. We all bleed the same. President Trump said to have red blood, we all bleed the same. So here we are with a condition of people not being just and kind towards each other.
Leahy: I’m sure you’ve talked about this many of time Miss King, but this is the first time you and I have had an opportunity to talk. The question that comes to my mind is that you knew your Uncle, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. quite well. Tell us a little bit about what kind of person he was and how he related to you as you were growing up.
King: Well interestingly enough Martin Luther King, Jr. was the middle child of my grandparents. Martin Luther kind and Alberta Williams King. And daddy kind was part Irish. Believe it or not, was an immigrant from Ireland. And mommy king’s granddaddy was a former slave. And so when they married they had three children.
And Christine was the oldest girl. Then came Martin King, Jr. then my dad, Alfred. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the middle child. He was what you call today an alpha male anyway. He was the one who grew up to be a Christian minister and to lead that civil rights movement. Now he and my dad were very close. As a matter of fact, the three siblings were very close.
They did all types of things together. And daddy was killed the year after Martin Luther, King junior was killed in the civil rights movement. Kind of like the Kennedy brothers.
Leahy: That’s a great personal tragedy involved here. My name is Michael Patrick Leahy. And my great-great-grandfather came over from Ireland. So maybe you and I are related since your great-great-grandfather came over from Ireland as well.
King: Well he came from Cork Island. Where did your folks settle from?
Leahy: He came from Cork county?
King: Yeah. You know they said if you kiss the Blarney Stone. So here we are on the radio gabbing away and Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the greatest speakers in all of history. Isn’t that something?
Leahy: So your great-great-grandfather came from Cort county. The Leahy family came from two counties in Ireland. Cork county and Temporary county. Now my folks came from Temporary but there are Leahy’s that we’re related to Cork. So maybe we are distant relations.
King: And you know what this is showing? That we really are one blood and skin color doesn’t define us. And then it goes back to one of my favorite things, neither does gestational size. So that little person in the womb is a red blood human being just like you and I.
And so we can’t define ourselves by gestational size nor by skin color or all these other things that people are trying to use to define or identify as. We’re in a big self-identification movement now when people are doing all of that. But at the end of every day, we are human beings in need really salvation, forgiveness, repentance.
So if you’ve got anybody who’s listening who’s an Atheist or a has a different type of faith or something like that. I’m not trying to get a come to Jesus movement with this interview. I’m just saying we’re all human beings and we live in what’s a called a human condition.
King: Absolutely. Miss King, we are joined in studio by our all-star panelist, Lonnie Spivak here from Nashville. And Lonnie’s been listening and Lonnie has a question for you. Lonnie go ahead.
Spivak: Miss King, it’s an honor to talk to you this morning. I was just wondering, President Trump has been a supporter of all life and I want to know how has he helped you and your organization?
King: Well, it’s just been remarkable. When President Trump was running for office, he was candidate Trump and he made certain things very clear. They said well what are you going to do about racism. He said, “We all bleed the same and we’re going to take care of all Americans. And people need to be saved. Human life is sacred.”
That was not his exact words but if you saw the debate that he did with Mrs. Hillary Clinton. He said ripping little babies apart in the womb of their mothers is wrong. I mean he was so very clear on that and I was like jumping up at the television like I was at a football game. I was like, yeah yey! Then I saw that he would do something for life and not just life, but for family, for criminal justice reform, for our pocketbooks and the economy.
And he made all those promises and he’s kept all of them even. Even the wall he’s built now or fence whatever it is. So with pro-life, I’ve been at his office when he’s done pro-life calls. Been right there in Oval Office with him there and I was there when he religious freedom. Just many things. He’s a leader. President Trump genuinely is a leader. And as a leader, he has put life at the top of his list and I’m very grateful for that.
Leahy: From what you know of President Trump and from your recollections of your late uncle, Reverand Martin Luther King, Jr., what do you think Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would say to President Trump about the country today if they were to meet?
King: Well blessedly Martin Luther King, Jr. like many great leaders throughout history would have the bible what different one’s said so we don’t have to guess. Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech, we don’t have to guess. And we don’t even have to guess what Martin Luther King, Jr. would say or do.
He would pray for and. Billy Graham was wonderful with all the White House Presidents during his lifetime. And he simply prayed for them. He didn’t try to say you have to be a Democrat or Republican or an Independent or any of that. So I know my uncle would pray for President Trump.
And if he were invited to the White House he would pray with President Trump. So we know that and he would not be preaching hate, he would be preaching that we need to communicate and come together and talk about these deep issues that this nation is facing.
Leahy: We’re talking with Evangelist Alveda King and if you’re interested in helping her which she calls and many of us would agree, the civil rights movement of today. You can go to civilrightsfortheunborn.org and you could donate there. The civil rights group is a project of a non-profit called Priests for Life.
King: Absolutely.
Leahy: Well Alveda, thank you so much for joining us today. Will you come back some time and tell us about how you’re group is doing?
King: I absolutely will. And God bless everybody. Let’s pray together and pray for each other. Be kind to each other and communicate. Not fight and not hate.
Listen to the full third hour:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Alveda King” by Alveda King.
