INDIANAPOLIS -- Speaking at a breakfast event before marching across Indianapolis, U.S. Rep. Andre Carson said President-elect Donald Trump "does not represent" the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Now we’re entering a time where a President-elect thinks it’s OK to disrespect one of our civil rights icons," Carson said. "... Donald Trump represents the underside of America that [King] fought against."
Carson also briefly discussed the conflict between Trump and U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
"Dr. King was unafraid of speaking truth to power," Carson said. "In that march on Washington, there is only one speaker who spoke on that stage who is alive today, and his name is John Lewis."
Trump criticized Rep. Lewis, a Congressman from Georgia, on Twitter, saying he should spend more time fixing the "burning and crime infested" inner-cities, rather than complain about election results.
Lewis said he wouldn't go to the inauguration because he didn't see Trump as a "legitimate" president in light of the Russian hacking.
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Carson said it wasn't enough to commemorate King, that people need to put that energy into voting.
"In the spirit of Dr. King, we have to go into 2017 with a spirit of activism, go into 2017 being unsettled, unhoused with the status quo, and go into 2017 preparing for 2018 to take back the U.S. House of Representatives for the American people," he said.
On his Facebook page, Donald Trump posted a tribute to King.
"Our Declaration declares that 'all men are created equal,' and Dr. King challenged our nation to live out that sacred truth: to banish the evils of bigotry, segregation and oppression from the institutions of society and the hearts of men," it reads.
