Skip to main content

Out of all the leaders of the civil rights movement why is Martin Luther King the only one with a national holiday?

It appears from the history of the attempts to introduce his birthday as a national holiday that it is extraordinary that we have any African-American at all honored this way.  The first attempts began shortly after King's assassination in 1968, but Congress did not pass a bill for this holiday until 1983, to be effective in 1986.  The argument stated was that the cost would be a burden to the taxpayers, since national holidays were...

It appears from the history of the attempts to introduce his birthday as a national holiday that it is extraordinary that we have any African-American at all honored this way.  The first attempts began shortly after King's assassination in 1968, but Congress did not pass a bill for this holiday until 1983, to be effective in 1986.  The argument stated was that the cost would be a burden to the taxpayers, since national holidays were paid days off for federal employees.  One has to wonder, though, whether this argument would have been made for someone who was not African-American. 


There were no doubt many other important civil rights figures. Rosa Parks would have made a good pick, since we have no women honored this way.  But I do think the two factors that led to King as the choice were his outsize contributions to the movement and his martyrdom.  Most people, if asked to name leaders of the civil rights movement are likely to have a difficult time thinking beyond King.  And his horrific assassination was his ultimate sacrifice to the movement, a sacrifice he certainly knew was possible and perhaps even likely. 


It is clear from just following the daily news that we are not in a post-racial world yet, any more than we are in a post-sexist one.  So, I think we have to count ourselves lucky to have one African-American honored with a national holiday, and King, with all that he did accomplish and his sacrifice of his life, seems to me to be a very good choice. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What is the meaning of "juggling fiends" in Macbeth?

Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a... Macbeth is beginning to realize that the three witches have been deceiving him since he first encountered them. Like jugglers, they have kept changing their forecasts in order create confusion. This is particularly apparent when the Second Apparition they raise in Act IV,   Scene 1 tells him that no man of woman born can overcome him in hand-to-hand battle--and then Macbeth finds himself confronted by the one man he has been avoiding out of a sense of guilt, and that man tells him: Despair thy charm. And let the angel whom thou still hast serve...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are some external and internal conflicts that Montag has in Fahrenheit 451?

 Montag, the protagonist of Fahrenheit 451, faces both external and internal conflicts throughout the novel. Some examples of these conflicts are: External Conflicts: Conflict with the society: Montag lives in a society that prohibits books and critical thinking. He faces opposition from the government and the people who enforce this law. Montag struggles to come to terms with the fact that his society is based on censorship and control. Conflict with his wife: Montag's wife, Mildred, is completely absorbed in the shallow and meaningless entertainment provided by the government. Montag's growing dissatisfaction with his marriage adds to his external conflict. Conflict with the fire captain: Montag's superior, Captain Beatty, is the personification of the oppressive regime that Montag is fighting against. Montag's struggle against Beatty represents his external conflict with the government. Internal Conflicts: Conflict with his own beliefs: Montag, at the beginning of th...
Post a Comment
Read more

In A People's History of the United States, why does Howard Zinn feel that Wilson made a flimsy argument for entering World War I?

"War is the health of the state," the radical writer Randolph Bourne said, in the midst of the First World War. Indeed, as the nations of Europe went to war in 1914, the governments flourished, patriotism bloomed, class struggle was stilled, and young men died in frightful numbers on the battlefields-often for a hundred yards of land, a line of trenches. -- Chapter 14, Page 350, A People's History of the United States Howard Zinn outlines his arguments for why World War I was fought in the opening paragraph of Chapter 14 (referenced above). The nationalism that was created by the Great War benefited the elite political and financial leadership of the various countries involved. Socialism, which was gaining momentum in Europe, as was class struggle, took a backseat to mobilizing for war. Zinn believes that World War I was fought for the gain of the industrial capitalists of Europe in a competition for capital and resources. He states that humanity itself was punished by t...
Post a Comment
Read more