# Should the King holiday be abolished? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 21, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405 "2008-01-21T20:20:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/61 "2008-01-23T02:38:18Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] Because if he had loved her, he would have at least freed her and/or their (alleged) children. [/QUOTE] Well, just because you’re in love, that doesn’t mean you have to throw good money away. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/62 "2008-01-23T02:47:18Z")
[QUOTE=monstro] Could Sally Hemmings have refused him if she had wanted to? She was his property–that alone means the two could not have had a mutual affair. It’s much safer to assume that they only had a sexual relationship rather than a “loving” anything. Because if he had loved her, he would have at least freed her and/or their (alleged) children. [/QUOTE] True I suppose. I don’t know that it’s safe to assume anything, but I’m a romantic and like to think that love transcends such boundaries. I prefer to see Jefferson as tragically flawed than a malevolent rapist. I guess that’s just the way it goes. I heard that essentially because he was in debt up to his ears he couldn’t really free his slaves because the creditors would come after them. I don’t know how that works. Also, didn’t he try to make it so that the children of slaves would be born free so that the contemporary generation of slaves would be the last? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/63 "2008-01-23T03:01:19Z")
That kind of “loving” happened way too frequently for me to be romantic about it. Jefferson wasn’t romantic about it either. He’s on the record as an anti-miscegnationist. He was a hypocrite on the scale of the cock-suckin’ conservatives of today, except a gazillion times worse. But comparing Jefferson to MLK is weak anyway. MLK’s honored for his devotion to civil rights, not maritial fidelity. Jefferson’s famous for his devotion to the principals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The former’s sins don’t conflict with his achievements. Can’t say the same for the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/64 "2008-01-23T03:16:10Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Of course I can’t speak for all Black people, but in the circles I travel, yes, it’s taken seriously. [/quote] You don’t mind if I quote you as the African American Community, do you? 🙂 > [@](#): > > I have a t-shirt somewhere from the King Center in Atlanta that says “a day of service… not a day off.” You’ve provided with a good reminder about why my personal experience isn’t necessarily the same for most other people. I"m just not a parade or into public celebrating for the most part. Among my circle of (admittedly almost 100% white) friends MLK Day like President’s Day, is just another day off. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/65 "2008-01-23T05:49:26Z")
Funnily enough, one of the watercooler conversations today (among the people of color) at work was “What did you do for MLK Day?” “Nothin.’” (And a look of guilt, and an quick rebuttal, “But I watched Eyes on the Prize last night!”) ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/66 "2008-01-23T05:52:27Z")
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow] Funnily enough, one of the watercooler conversations today (among the people of color) at work was “What did you do for MLK Day?” “Nothin.'” (And a look of guilt, and an quick rebuttal, “But I watched Eyes on the Prize last night!”) [/QUOTE] A guy asked me what I did for MLK day. I said, "I slept in. And… _I had a dream!"_ That’s my MLK Day joke. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/67 "2008-01-23T06:52:41Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] A guy asked me what I did for MLK day. I said, "I slept in. And… _I had a dream!"_ That’s my MLK Day joke. [/QUOTE] [rimshot] ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/68 "2008-01-23T08:07:32Z")
I can tell you it wasn’t just another no-name holiday in my neighborhood in D.C. ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/69 "2008-01-23T18:17:24Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] Would the OP have less of a problem with it if the holiday were called “Civil Rights Day” or something like that? [/QUOTE] We tried that in Arizona (to fold in Cesar Chavez), and were told by the NFL that we had to have MLK Day, or no Superbowl. No lie. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/70 "2008-01-23T22:23:42Z")
I didn’t have the day off. I watched a black man be a contender for the President in the evening though! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/71 "2008-01-24T08:45:24Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] 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. [/QUOTE] I agree. Let’s move it to the day he was murdered, in April. Here in Minneapolis, it was about -18°F on the morning of the MLK holiday. Hard to get out and celebrate anything when it’s that cold. Having it in April would sure be a much nicer day for a holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/72 "2008-01-24T18:30:19Z")
[Nat X] “Isn’t it just like THE MAN to give us a Black History Month, and then make it the shortest month, and the coldest month, of them all!” [/Nat X] ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/73 "2008-01-24T18:45:40Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] [Nat X] “Isn’t it just like THE MAN to give us a Black History Month, and then make it the shortest month, and the coldest month, of them all!” [/Nat X] [/QUOTE] That is an amusing little shot. Of course, it is not **quite** [historically accurate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_history_month#History): > [@](#): > > Black History Month was established in 1976 by Afro-Americans for the Study of Afro-American Life and History.[[1](http://www.asalh.org/)] The month-long celebration was an expansion of Negro History Week, which was established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, director of what was then known as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson selected the week in February that embraced the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405/74 "2008-01-24T23:17:50Z")
No way! I get that day off from work! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-king-holiday-be-abolished/434405.md?page=3)