Biden marks King assassination anniversary

April 4 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden marked the 56th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Thursday.

"Dr. King is one of my political heroes, Biden said in a White House statement. "I was just out of law school when my hometown of Wilmington, Delaware was among the many cities engulfed in turmoil in the wake of his assassination. His unfinished mission inspired me to leave a prestigious law firm to become a public defender and begin a career in public service."

King was attending a march with sanitation workers in Memphis who were demanding safer working conditions, farrier wages when he was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

"Since then, I've seen the push and pull and progress and setback on everything he stood for from voting rights to jobs and justice for all Americans," Biden continued. "I've had the greatest honor to serve as Vice President to the first Black President and now President with the first woman Vice President, as we carry forward his vision of a beloved community."

Prior to his assassination, King rose to prominence as a controversial but ardent civil rights leader in parts of the south that others would not go.

He pressured Southern lawmakers to dismantle racist and segregationist practices rooted in the era of Jim Crow, leading to many pivotal moments in the civil rights journey, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956 and the March on Washington in 1963, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.