"There's something wrong in our nation, where we live, where a minimum of 48 million people are living in poverty," said Martin Luther King III, King's oldest son, his voice roaring like his father's at a rally. "That's unacceptable. We must do better."

Many activists expressed concern that King's legacy might be sanitised as someone who simply advocated peace. They said they hoped that this moment would provide a chance to highlight the forceful lengths to which he was willing to go — like resistance through civil disobedience — to overcome racism.

There are racist elements in the country, the younger King said, "and some of the things that have been said by the President have given rise to this behaviour. And so we got to find a way to work on the president's heart, like we worked on George Wallace's heart years ago and changed him."

The rally on Wednesday morning, organised by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Church of God in Christ, drew a crowd carrying signs with messages like "Fight Poverty" and "We got nothing to lose but our chains."

A banner hung high above a stage that read "#I AM 2018," a nod to the "I Am a Man" slogan that Memphis sanitation workers used when they were striking in 1968, a cause that prompted King to travel to Memphis a half-century ago.

New York Times