Heres the thing yall: MLK Day has NOT been a holiday very long. In fact, it was first signed into law in 1983 by (believe it or not) Ronald Regan, though it wasnt observed until 1986. In fact, it wasnt observed in all 50 states until 2000! Many politicians, and entire states, opposed the holiday, calling King a communist and citing his opposition of the Vietnam war. The Wikipedia article sheds light on the details, including the fact that Mississippi, Alabama, & Arkansas celebrated the holiday as a combination King-Robert E. Lee birthday holiday. Ive been celebrating MLKs birthday as long as I can remember. My parents had a party every year, where we would listen to his speeches, sermons, and songs related to the civil rights movement (the Neville Brothers song about Rosa Parks on their 1989 record Yellow Moon was a favorite). This song, by my dear namesake, was one of the hits, and it was fairly instrumental in the movement to make Kings birthday a national holiday. It is a unique & special day, in that it is an anti-colonialist holiday, the only nationally recognized one of its kind (as opposed to Columbus Day, holiday of the downpresser man).
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 02:58:23 +0000
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