on this martin luther king weekend, i'm proud to have a third generation king join me today, yolanda renee kinging for the king, drum major institute. hi, yolanda. >> hi thank you for having me on your show. >> thank you for coming on. you know, i've watched you grow, and you spoke at the march for our lives, with hundreds of thousands. you spoke at our march last year, around the question of policing, which a father and mother and i called over 200,000. you spoke when we lost 50,000 earlier this year for the voting rights and i saw you yesterday marching for voting rights in arizona, saying that we do not want a celebration for your grandfather without legislation. you could have just been somebody 13 years old now -- what motivates you to be such an activist at your age. you could have done none of this and just been martin luther king's grand daughter. why are you so active? >> well these issues really concern me. activism is about using your platform for good and it's almost like a bug scratch like a mosquito by the for me and i always want to scratch the mosquito by the and the mosquito by

[applause] >> this year's mlk day youth award goes to yolanda rene king. sed in georgia to her parents, martin luther king iii and andrea waters king. she grew up in atlanta and was named after her onto. she is the first and only grandchild of martin luther king junior and caretta scott king. many noticed the similarities between her and her grandfather. she took the stage at the 2018 march for our lives student demonstration in washington, d.c. she talked about gun control, where she opened up with "i have a dream where enough is enough." "my grandfather had a dream that is four little children would not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. i have a dream that enough is enough." or perhaps when she spoke about racial equity on the steps of the 2020 march on washington. yolanda is using her voice this mlk day to call attention to the importance of issues such as voting rights, gun control and so many other issues and why younger generations should be involved in the fight. congratulations yolanda on keeping your grandfath

king's granddaughter, she's 13 years old, her name is yolanda rene king, not even old enough to vote yet. she's saying pretty clearly exactly what is at stake here and you know with the ol' saying, out of the mouths of babes. >> the ability to vote is under attack across our country and these attacks strike at the heart, not just of the civil rights that my grandparents and so many others fought for but at the heart of our democracy. >> the fact is that the -- well, joe biden has a candidate made voting right as a key promise n just because republicans are opposed to that legislation but members of his own party are putting the filibuster ahead of protecting the vote. >> where do we stand? whose side are we on? will we stand against voter suppression? yes or no? will we stand against election subversion? yes or no? will we stand up for an america where everyone is dpauguaranteee full protections and promise of this nation? yes or no? i know where i stand. it time for every elected official to make it clear where they stand. >> dr. king's son martin luther king iii not letting the pre

honored and humbled to be standing here today with martin luther king iii, andrea waters king, yolanda renee king, organizers representing our 180 coalition partners and everyone tuning in from home to say that we will not accept an action from our elected officials on this martin luther king, jr. day because there can be no celebration without legislation. and starting tomorrow, the senate will vote on the freedom to vote john r lewis act, a bill that will not only protect the ballot, but expand access to it. the past few weeks we have seen what our collective power can do. in the president's speech in georgia, president biden urged the senate to reform the filibuster, a jim crow relic. to get voting rights done. and we're honored that later today. we'll be joined by speaker pelosi who has been a champion for democracy and a leader every step of the way. we have built the power, but we are still waiting on those who hide behind outdated procedures to avoid taking a vote. senator sinema, senator manchin vocally opposed changes to the rules, even at the cost of our democracy. as dr. king said in h

as yolanda renee king said, to take action together. my name is dr. reverend harris.r alongside the reverend william j barber ii of the poor people's campaign, and national campaign for moral reviver that is organizing poor and low income people, moral leaders and activists of every age, race, religion, gender and geography in nearly every state of these yet to be united states. as reverend dr. king said months before he was shot down, there is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. but when a man is bleeding to death, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed. there is a fire raging now for the poor of this society. this inherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. they need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved. with fewer voting rights today than people had more than 50 years ago despite people dying for those rights, with the rolling coup taking place in state legislatures across

and she is the third generation of kings who have spoken at the national cathedral. i have spoken, and now yolanda renee will be speaking. we are so excited about that happening the day after the holiday. it's at 9:00 online at the national cathedral. >> you know, i saw the video of your father speaking. i was too young, and i clapped for you speaking. but yolanda taught me how the young folks do this. i'll do this for her. martin luther king iii, thank you for joining me. >>> coming up in this week's gotcha, i'll tell you what really bothered senate minority leader mitch mcconnell about january 6th. i'll give you a hint. it's not what the rest of us are concerned about. >>> but first, today's top news stories. yasmin? >> thank you, rev. stories that we're watching this hour. covid cases in the united states surpassing 59 million, according to our nbc news tally. as cases continue to spike, many americans are also struggling to find tests due to an overwhelming demand there. >>> also, the biden administration finalized the first contract to ship 500 million free rapid tests to american homes on thursday