When Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday was first observed as a national legal holiday on Jan. 20, 1986, I was not complaining.
My own birthday that year was the previous Saturday, and to my 8-year-old mind, a day off of school was the ultimate birthday celebration. I didn’t concern myself with who King was or what he may have said or done to merit a national holiday. For all I cared, he could have been a street vendor known for selling the best American frankfurters this side of Missouri.
Apparently, though, the declaration of this national holiday?which has been a special birthday bonus for as long as I’ve been in the public school system?was quite controversial. It took 15 years for Congress and the president to ratify the bill proposing King’s birthday, Jan. 15, as a holiday. It was first proposed by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., just four days after King was assassinated in 1968.
However, instituting a national holiday is no easy thing. Much of the opposition centered around the money that would be lost by not doing business that day and having to pay government employees?a fair and legitimate concern in our capitalist society. Another item of concern was that it would be too close to the big Christmas and New Year’s parties that are also nationally observed.
I personally think Martin Luther King Jr. Day could not come at a more opportune time for college students. It rescues us right at that moment when the recharge we got from Winter Break is beginning to wane, and panic begins to set in. You know, the fear of the first quizzes and first papers of the semester. Ultimately, Congress agreed that it wasn’t a bad time for a day off, especially considering that the third Monday in January often follows Super Bowl Sunday.
But perhaps the most interesting argument against the holiday had to do with whether or not one individual should be singled out and honored in such a way.
Historically, such an honor is generally extended only to leaders in the political and religious arenas, not those involved with social change.
The eventual legalization of Martin Luther King Jr. Day may have merely been the result of a relentless lobbying effort?6 million petition signatures were submitted to Congress in 1970, and from that time forward, it was resubmitted each congressional session until it was ratified in 1983. What the holiday is, and what it has come to signify in the 15 years since its institution has a definite place and importance in our society.
Considering that freedom, equality and a belief in bringing about positive social change in a nonviolent manner are core American values, it seems odd that it was such a challenge to push the holiday through Congress. Martin Luther King Jr. Day does single out and honor one individual man. A great man who dedicated his life to reminding all Americans of their own values, pointing to the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and the “promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
It took 15 years to get through bureaucratic red tape, and now it is still necessary to remind ourselves that despite our differences, we are all equal and valuable. Thirty three, 50, 100, even 1,000 years after King’s death, it is and will be appropriate to remember and celebrate the values and ideals that he stood for and tirelessly worked for. Freedom, equality and peace are human ideals. They are American ideals, and with hope, as we sleep in, relax or hit the slopes on Monday, we will take a moment to make them our individual ideals and work to make those ideals reality.