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Online parades and focus on inequality mark Martin Luther King Jnr Day in US
In this Aug. 28, 1963 file photo, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks to thousands during his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

PARADES were cancelled or replaced with online rallies across the United States today as the country marked Martin Luther King Jnr Day amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

Events organisers said the federal holiday, which falls on the third Monday in January, was especially important following the year in which Black Lives Matter swept the country and days before a new president replaces Donald Trump, who emboldened white supremacists.

Faith Morris of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, referenced the Republican fixation with voter suppression, saying: “You can’t help but make the parallels between what Dr King was fighting for and all that we’ve been dealing with now.

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