Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day is a holiday that is celebrated throughout the United States and in Japan on the third Monday of every January. While it is widely celebrated today, Martin Luther King Day was first proposed in 1960 but it wasn´t until 1980 that the proposed holiday was accepted and passed through congress with a 78-22 win which president Ronald Reagan signed into effect immediately. However even with the holiday having passed in congress the actual holiday was officially celebrated until 1983 and even then entire states didn´t accept it. Southern States were reluctant to accept it but eventually they paired the day with Robert E. Lees Birthday which is still happening to this day. Other states like Arizona fully accepted the new holiday when it first happened and then backtracked until eventually voters decided to celebrate the holiday. 2000 was the fist time that the entire US celebrated Martin Luther King day. Japan had accepted Martin Luther King day after he had reached out to them in an effort to try to connect the east and the west in solidarity.
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This is very fascinating and awesome to know. It is amazing how even after congress voting with a differential that large, MLK Day was still not immediately accepted throughout the United States. It shows how reluctant we were as a nation to change our ways and appreciate someone who stood up for many.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting topic since it connects his holiday with the feelings of each state and is almost directly related to the racism in each state, having the less racist ones accept it first and the most racist states needing or seeking for another reason to celebrate this day.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that even with so many people being part of the civil rights movement Martin Luther King Jr. I wonder what made them decide to choose him for that honor. Do you think we should institute more holidays honoring social justice leaders?
ReplyDeleteAs interesting as this post was to read, I don't think we should institute more holidays honoring social justice leaders. If we start doing that then there will have to be multiple for different groups, the white people may want one person and the latinos may want someone else then eventually it would just create an unnecessarily difficult situation and the importance of the holiday or the social justice leaders' ideals wouldn't be peoples main focus.
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