Bernice King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, condemned conservative activists for pushing claims that diversity, equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies were to blame for last week's deadly Washington, D.C. plane crash and that Black pilots are underqualified.
"Racism. Pure and simple," King wrote, retweeting a video of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and commentator Jack Posobiec discussing the issue.
In a recent Thought Crime episode, Posobiec and Kirk echoed President Donald Trump's rhetoric. They speculated that DEI policies played a role in the deadly midair collision between an American Airlines jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter, despite no evidence supporting their claim.
Racism. Pure and simple. https://t.co/htHOrsBR5W
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) February 3, 2025
"We've all been in the back of a plane when the turbulence hits," Posobiec said, "or when you're flying through a storm, and you're like, I'm so glad I saw the guy with the right stuff and the square jaw get into the cockpit before we took off, and I feel better now."
"No, I mean, like, you want to go thought crime, like, I'm sorry -- if I see a Black pilot, I'm gonna be like 'Boy, I hope he's qualified' ... That's not an immediate, that's not who I am, that's not what I believe," Kirk added.
King's rebuke of Kirk and Posobiec comes as Trump blamed DEI policies for the midair collision over the Potomac River that killed 67 people. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the cause of the crash.
"We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level," Trump said.
The father of the female Black Hawk pilot killed in the crash has since condemned Trump's mention of DEI playing a role.
Meanwhile, the Department of Defense recently ended all government-funded cultural observances, including Black History Month, as part of Trump's broader rollback of Biden-era DEI policies.
Originally published on Latin Times
