Martin Luther King III said his dad would be proud of the Black Lives Matter movement

Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee took some pointed shots at the Black Lives Matter movement Friday, suggesting activists place undue importance on black lives at the expense of people belonging to other races. The former governor of Arkansas also suggested racism is "more of a sin problem than a skin problem."

"All lives matter. It's not that any life matters more than another," Huckabee told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "That's the whole message that Dr. King tried to present, and I think he'd be appalled by the notion that we're elevating some lives above others."

The civil rights leader's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, wasn't having any of it, Politico reported Monday based on an interview King gave to Sirius XM.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"I think dad would be very proud of young people standing up to promote truth, justice, and equality," King said. "I was perplexed by the comments, but people attempt to use dad for everything."

The movement has picked up steam since 2014, as many incidents of unarmed black people being shot by police officers have garnered national attention.