The niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks at fundraiser at Fresno church

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. is alive in Fresno. Dr. King's niece, Dr. Alveda King was the keynote speaker for a "Right to Life" fundraiser at the West Side Church of God and she talked with Action News about the current civil rights movement.

Dr. Alveda King was 12 when her uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, took a stand for civil rights and led a movement in the 60's. Still, she remembers the protests and the marches, just as much as the retaliation. "Our home was bombed in 1963, the home of A.D. And Naomi King but the sanctity of the home was threatened there and we were fighting over skin color."

Today, she says the struggle continues but the fight has changed. We hear the words, "black lives matter," often and it is a global movement. "If my uncle were here today and his brother, my dad, Reverend A.D., they would encourage us to pray and then act," she added.

In the days of MLK, violence wasn't the answer. Dr. Alveda King says it still isn't but her uncle knew how to stir the pot and recently, she says the same unrest is under the surface. The problem is, the protests haven't been peaceful. "When a pot is stirred, it bubbles and things come to the top," Dr. King said, "so we're seeing that, a lot of that is occurring in the 21st century of America because the country is in trouble."

Dr. King is an evangelist who preaches the power of prayer. She doesn't have faith in people or presidents. She says her faith, is in a higher power. "I have faith in God and I believe God can move in the heart of any candidate's life," Dr. King said.

Her life is devoted to spreading that message and continuing the crusade her uncle started.