An Atlanta megachurch pastor is responding to the Trump administration’s decision to remove Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth from the National Park Service’s free admission days.
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The National Park Service added one new date to the calendar: Flag Day on June 14, which is also President Donald Trump’s birthday.
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Dr. Jamal Bryant called the moves a “slap in the face.”
“Not just to African Americans, but to Americans at large, and then the narcissism unleashed to take it away from Dr. King and laud it upon himself, says that America is going backwards,” Bryant told ABC News on Sunday.
Bryant has been an outspoken critic of Trump and his administration. He previously called for a nationwide boycott of Target after the retail giant rolled back its DEI initiatives, in step with Trump’s executive order.
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The removal of MLK Day is particularly concerning for volunteers, according to Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association.
“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel told the Associated Press. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”
The other free park admission days for 2026 will be Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).
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ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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