Edwards: "Shame" that Louisiana hasn't progressed further since MLK's day

BATON ROUGE - Louisiana's new governor compared his fight against poverty to the civil rights movement of the 1960's.

"The shame is we haven't made as much progress as we should have," Governor John Bel Edwards said Monday

Edwards, who was observing Martin Luther King Day at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, told a crowd of hundreds that his efforts to expand Medicaid, raise the minimum wage and reform prisons were in line with MLK's principals.

"It fits the theme that we're all brothers and sisters in Christ which was part of the message that Dr. King gave in his Mountain Top speech the night before his assassination," Edwards said.

After the church service, the NAACP led dozens on a march to City Hall.