Politics

Newly-elected Warnock cites MLK in response to pro-Trump Capitol riots

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that."

Rev. Raphael Warnock waves to supporters during a drive-in rally Sunday.

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Senator-elect Rev. Raphael Warnock, who officially won one of Georgia’s critical runoff races early Wednesday, cited a Martin Luther King Jr. quote in response to the mob of Donald Trump supporters rioting in the nation’s capital because of the president’s false claims about election fraud.

“In this moment of unrest, violence and anger, we must remember the words of Dr. King,” the reverend wrote on Twitter Wednesday afternoon. “’Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.’

“Let each of us try to be a light to see our country out of this dark moment,” he wrote.

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Warnock, the first Black person from Georgia elected to the Senate, has served as pastor for 15 years at the same Atlanta church where Dr. King once preached. The Dr. King quote comes from Strength to Love, a 1963 collection of some of the civil rights leader’s most well-known sermons. It originated in a 1957 sermon about loving one’s enemies.

Along with the victory of fellow Georgian Jon Ossoff, Warnock’s election secures control of the Senate for the Democrats. Ossoff responded to the riots later Wednesday evening, describing the mob’s breach of the U.S. Capitol as an insurrectionist attack.

“The GOP must discard and disavow Trump once and for all, end its attacks on the electoral process, & commit fully to the peaceful transfer of power,” he wrote.

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