Martin Luther King, Jr. is the only American to have a holiday in his name. Is Martin Luther King really that worthy of a national holiday? I personally find him to be a despicable person. Is political correctness the only reason this holiday still exists?
Columbus Day would have been abolished years ago if it wasn’t such a convenient leaf peeping day.
Oops.
You can always find something you don’t like about an Icon. What lives after them is an idea. Ghandi,King,Kennedy .You can always find something you do not like on a personal level. In no way does that diminish the good that was done. King recognized (Malcolm X did too) that the black experience,while still different ,held much in common with poor whites. He fought for rights of people who were being denied their rights. He put his body in the face of those who would violently oppose him. He showed guts and was resolute in his fight. He was important and did a lot of good.
I don’t think there has been anything else to fix about the US that rises to the level of significance of race relations. Rice’s characterization of it as “America’s birth defect” is pretty apt. We certainly have other heros, but all the other big heros I can think of were career politicians and military people. King’s career looks to me like one big struggle for one big cause, against the mainstream, against pretty much everything except his supporters, who were themselves not in much of a position of strength. And so it looks more like a huge sacrifice and gift more than anything else.
It is pretty hard to find heros who don’t have blemishes, and the bigger the hero is, generally, the busier they were in their other persuits too. I’m very fond of Ben Franklin, but in his case, the way he treated his family was abominable. You pretty much have to appreciate the things you appreciate, and that’s it, I think.
A bigger question in King’s case might be the point Stokely Carmichael and George V. Hamilton (SP?) made in their book Black Power, which as I understood it was that King’s nonviolent approach wasn’t really working, and it was only when some blacks organized a more violent approach that King really started making progress. The way they tell this history sounded convincing. Even so, the fact that King was providing a less harmful way out of our mess is still quite a gift.
Ted Kennedy said MLK is important not only in that he helped blacks achieve equality, but that his actions for blacks had a domino effect and led to increased rights for woman, hispanics, gays, etc.
This should be good. For what reason?
The holiday was only created around 1980, so no, it’s not political correctness that’s kept it alive. I’d say the holiday exists because a vast majority of the people think MLK deserves to be honored that way.
So political correctness keeps King’s birthday a holiday, but it’s not powerful enough to overcome the combined might of the leaf-peeping lobby? :rolleyes: I don’t think there’s much support for eliminating this holiday either.
In case it’s not clear, I don’t think the holiday should be abolished.
King is widely respected here for his achievements and bravery.
I remember one teacher at my school giving the pupils a run-through of his life and describing King (and Gandhi) as true heroes.
Who is your hero?
King was a womanizer who was with prostitutes the night before he was shot. He also plagiarized his dissertation. Since he is usually referred to as “Dr. King,” I think that is relevant.
So what?
Yes.
I don’t expect to be enlightened but why don’t you expand on this rather inflammatory statement.
No. “Political Correctness” is mostly a fantasy of the right.
Somebody’s got to peep those leaves, I guess.
Incidentally, Washington and Lincoln have a holiday in their honor, if not in their name. Washington owned slaves. Was he more or less “despicable” than MLK in your highly considered opinion?
I’m aware. I can only ask “So what?” Washington’s birthday was a national holiday (and still sort of is) and he owned slaves. Do you think this outweighs the good of the cause that King worked for? I don’t think it’s close. People don’t have to be perfect to be good.
Your last point makes it sound like King is only honored because he had a doctorate, which isn’t true at all.
So what? What’s wrong with banging prostitutes? What’s the matter, you don’t like girls?
Thomas Jefferson raped slaves. What’s worse.
You’re grasping at straws. While it’s true that King was sometimes guilty of plagiarism, the reason he is honored with a holiday has nothing to do with his college degree. I suppose we could choose to honor only perfect human beings with holidays but that wouldn’t leave us with many days off.
Personally, I don’t think greatness is defined by moral perfection, but by acheivement, heroism and inspiration in spite of imperfection.
We would still has Christmas and Easter. That Jebus was a hell of a guy.
What is “leaf peeping”? And how much of a threat does it pose to our nation’s children?
Most people I know who have doctorates either disappear into the public school bureaucracy or become a middling professor somewhere. They don’t typically make history.
This whole question about the doctorate is interesting historically, but has to be kept in perspective.
Well you know…that good feeling you get when you see a beautiful rainbow of colors in autumn can gave dizzying, even euphoric feelings to our youth.
It ought to be moved to August. MLK deserves better than a high school in the wrong part of town and a holiday in freakin’ February.
January. It’s the official January ski holiday out here in NorCal. And the snow is really good this year!
I don’t have anything against MLK but I’d say the holiday exist because people like having a day off and not because they feel like honoring him. Seriously, how many people here use this day to celebrate the life of MLK? Without this thread I don’t think I would have given two thoughts about MLK today.
I think there’s a point where holidays stop meaning what they’re suppose to mean. President’s Day, MLK Day, and I would argue that even Labor Day, and Memorial Day are like that. That’s probably a topic for another thread though. At any rate I’m not going to lobby to have a day off removed!
Marc
I think that, for the most part, you’re right, but I know for a fact that a lot of people (especially Black people) really do take the day more seriously than people tend to take Presidents’ Day or even Veterans’ Day.
It’s not some somber religious holiday where people spend all day in mourning, but it still honors and draws attention to the guy and there is always at least some media recognition of MLK today.
I think most people don’t get an extra day off because of this. I know I got ten paid holidays a year. When MLK day became a holiday they shifted one of the ten existing holidays back to January. To be honest, it was kind of a bummer because you hate to burn one of your ten so close to the Christmas and New Years holidays. I still think it should be a holiday, even if it’s not an extra day off.