Today, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday is observed by government agencies, public schools, and many private schools and offices. Some businesses, however, deal with holidays such as Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Veterans’ Day by remaining open (in a global economy, many of them must). Instead of these holidays, many give their employees two or more “personal holidays” that they can take throughout the year.
I can appreciate the flexibility of this arrangement. I also admit that before there was this holiday, when I was in high school and college, our school day had assemblies, prayer services, speakers and service projects focused on learning about the Reverend Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. Now, I have a sneaking suspicion that most people in our area just go skiing.
The problem here, of course, is that if we didn’t have school and work off, it sends a signal that the observance is less important than others. Veterans’ Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day might come to be considered like St. Valentine’s Day or St. Patrick’s Day—an “extra”, nothing worth changing our daily routines for.
Regardless of your views on whether students should be in school or whether workers should be allowed to choose their holidays, I want to gently address an attitude that disturbs me.
Sometimes when people tell me they approve of the flexible work holiday, they say something like this: “It’s a great idea, because then African-Americans can take off Martin Luther King Day and celebrate that, and Asians can take off Chinese New Year, and…”
I cringe when Martin Luther King Jr. Day is referred to as an African-American holiday. It is an American holiday. Certainly we celebrate Reverend King and the African-Americans who worked with him. But this is not a holiday for a certain race or ethnic group. The comparison to the Lunar New Year doesn’t work.
I remember reading a quote that has stayed with me (it may even have been from Reverend King himself, but I don’t remember). Paraphrased, it says,
”Oppressive systems harm the oppressors as well as the oppressed.”
I am grateful that none of my children, including the white one, will grow up in a country that systematically divides people and perpetuates the idea that one race is better than another. In fact, growing up such a system might have done more harm to his soul than to the souls of my non-white daughters.
Today is not about a victory for people of one race. It is a reminder that the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. was above all an American, who called us to “live out our creed that all..are created equal….”
He made the country better for all of us.
Please see these related blogs:
I Have a Dream
Would They Have Done That to Me?
Students Should be in School Today