Martin Luther King Jr. Day was marked by United States President Joe Biden with a push for the voting rights legislation, which remains in the approval pipeline of the Congress. “Congress must pass Federal legislation to protect the right to vote”, Biden said in a social media post on Monday.

Biden said that America needs “more than just reflection — it requires action”, while building on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights pioneer.

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“On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we must protect the hard-fought gains he helped achieve—and continue his unfinished struggle for a freer and more just society by raising our voices to confront abuses of power, challenge hate and discrimination, and protect the right to vote”, the US President wrote in a different post.

United States Vice President Kamala Harris took a similar route and wrote, “If we are to truly honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy, we must continue to fight for the freedom to vote.”

VP Harris, in a separate post, said that she visited Martha’s Table in Washington DC to volunteer for a day of service to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day. United States Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff also joined Harris. 

Speaking in Washington DC on Monday, Martin Luther King III-– Martin Luther King, Jr.’s eldest son– said though he was marking the federal holiday named for his father, he wasn’t there to celebrate.

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He was there to call on Congress and President Joe Biden to pass the sweeping legislation that would help ease Republican-led voting restrictions passed in at least 19 states that make it more difficult to cast a ballot, according to reports from Associated Press.

Monday’s holiday marked what would have been the 93rd birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was just 39 when he was assassinated in 1968 while helping sanitation workers strike for better pay and workplace safety in Memphis, Tennessee.