Dr. Alveda King: We Are From One Blood, One Human Race

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WASHINGTON / Sept. 12, 2025/ BPALiveWire — America has endured darker days, and we will overcome this season of national turmoil. My family knows the burden of grieving assassinated loved ones whose ideas were both cherished and despised by many. From the bombing of our home in Birmingham, Alabama, to the assassinations of my uncle, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., my father, the Rev. A.D. King and my grandmother, Alberta Williams King, we have carried this weight through generations of violence and loss. The recent assassination of Charlie Kirk—a young, convicted voice—revives those raw pains, even as I board a flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., weeping yet resolved to serve God, America and the world.

As the body of Christ, we must turn to Scripture in this moment, for God’s word remains true yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in his sermon “A Knock at Midnight,” shared his deep faith in Jesus Christ. My grandfather, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Sr., modeled resilience, urging unity after my father’s funeral. We are called to anchor ourselves in eternal truth amid “wars and rumors of wars.” Acts 17:26 says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (NIV). Romans 12:21 reminds us, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (NIV).  When peripherals collide, convergence is imminent—let us converge on the light.

C.S. Lewis cautioned against demonizing others, noting what would happen, “if we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbors or drive them mad or bring bad weather.” I echo this warning. We must stop labeling people as fascists, Hitler or Nazis, or claiming that ideas like Charlie Kirk’s threaten America or humanity. Such false rhetoric risks inciting misguided actions, as seen in assassination attempts on Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Trump, and now in Charlie Kirk’s death. As Jesus taught, let us reject fear, condemn violence and pray for America’s unity.

I am heartbroken for Charlie’s wife and young children, and for our nation, reeling from reports of brutality like the killing of young Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska. Yet I believe God will use this tragedy to make us better. It will call us to truly understand that we are one blood, one human race. Even if Charlie’s words offended you, study his approach. He was willing to engage in tough conversations, to speak his mind and to listen to others. He valued the exchange of ideas.