The late Martin Luther King Jr. would be unhappy with extreme groups on both sides of the political aisle, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell told Newsmax TV.
Blackwell, who worked as a domestic policy adviser on President Donald Trump's transition team, talked about King's legacy and what he would think of today's society with "Newsmax Now" host Bill Tucker.
"I was a young mentee of Dr. L.B. Booth, one of Dr. King's mentors as a matter of fact," Blackwell said. "And so I heard Dr. King's words, and I knew what he stood for, and I think today he would be disturbed at the shrillness of the language that is used on both sides of the aisle and both racist.
"I think he would be just as disappointed in Black Lives Matter as he is in the messages of the Ku Klux Klan that still exist. It wasn't an empty frame when he said that what was more important than skin color was the character of one's personhood, and so I was glad to see this president as his predecessors proclaim it Martin Luther King Day."
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Blackwell was in the Roosevelt Room of the White House last Friday when President Donald Trump signed the document to officially proclaim Monday as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Blackwell added King was a champion for life and respected his creator, traits he said are on the decline in modern society.
"Dr. King believed in absolute truth," Blackwell said. "He believed that there are some things that were universal like human dignity, like the respect for life, and as a consequence of the relentless march of relativism we have now given way to this politics of division and subtraction. I think Dr. King would be frustrated by the turn of events, but he wouldn't be resigned to accept it."
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