President Joe Biden, during the celebrations of Martin Luther King Day, forgot the name of the civil rights movement leader’s daughter-in-law, Arndrea Waters King, 48, whose birthday fall on the same day. Waters King is the wife of Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III.
Biden, in his speech at the National Action Network Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast, said, “Well look, my wife has a rule in our family – When it’s somebody’s birthday you sing Happy Birthday”.
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However, when the time came to say the name of the person who was celebrating her birthday, the president fumbled. Daily Mail reports that he appeared to be mumbling the name “Valerie” instead of Arndrea.
Who is Arndrea Waters King?
Arndrea Waters King, the wife of Martin Luther King III, was born on January 16, 1984, in Tallahassee, Florida. Waters King was a student of psychology at Atlanta’s Emory University.
Soon after receiving her degree, she began working with the Center for Democratic Renewal, a group created and led by Dr. C.T. Vivian, a close ally of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Arndrea coordinated the first National Conference on Hate Crimes and Hate Violence with more than 100 national partners during her time in office.
She is currently the president of Drum Major Institute, a body that, according to its website, was “Founded in 1961 on Dr. King’s vision of a world free of racism, poverty and violence”.
Arndrea and Martin Luther King III married in 2006. Their daughter, Yolanda Renee King, was born in 2008.
Arndrea played a key role in the collaboration with JP Morgan Chase to conserve, digitise, and restore the King Center archives. She supports the Atlanta community by being on the boards of the Atlanta International School and the Historic District Development Committee.
