dilectus

As I'm sure you've noticed by now, today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  It's one of the easier days to remember because we have school off and other things like that to point out that today we should be doing something out of the ordinary.

So, what did we use this opportunity to do?

Well I for one attended to my tomes of homework. I'm not really proud that this is how things ended up, though.. There are so many better ways to commemorate Reverend King.

I'm not going to focus on telling you facts about King's life. You all probably know that he was an African American supporter of the Civil Rights movement in the 50's. You all know that he had dreams, that he gave speeches and wrote letters from prisons he was placed in because of his nonviolent acts of civil disobedience.

He was a pretty influential guy, right?  So why do we dedicate an entire day of our busy lives to him?  The only other people who have a US Holiday to their name are George Washington and Christopher Colombus. The idea for MLK day was originally proposed in 1979, but the bill didn't pass. Many people were opposed because the federally-paid holiday would affect the budget, plus King was a private citizen who had never held public office.  This mode of honoring him would seem to break tradition.

Eventually MLK day was signed into law in 1983 and was first observed in 1986.  Some states were reluctant to observe the holiday, though.  The bill had been met with an overwhelming (veto-proof!) vote in congress, but many states tried to find loopholes such as combining it with other holidays or changing its name.  The holiday wasn't officially observed by all 50 states until the year 2000.

That's thirteen years ago, people.  Most of us were alive then, and there were some states still stubbornly avoiding honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Aside from the cost concerns of a holiday and the fact that it has probably the longest name of any US holiday, why would a state go so far to avoid this holiday?

Well, to answer that, we really need to understand what this holiday is recognizing.  Obviously Reverend King is best known for his involvement in the Civil Rights movement. He was also an inspirational speaker on many other topics (I encourage you--and myself--to read more of his speeches and writings) but no doubt MLK day chiefly recognizes his belief in civil equality. In fact, Martin Luther King Day has been observed in places outside the US- including Hiroshima, Toronto, and Jerusalem under various circumstances.  Each of these observances have been in honor of King's work for civil rights.

So believe it or not, there are still people who oppose civil rights.  In the 21st century.  And some of those people hold public office.  So they were elected by yet more people who seem to oppose the ongoing fight for civil rights.

Is it just a race thing?  As sad as it is to admit, there is still a great deal of racism in the world.  You read about slavering ending with the Civil War, and then the Civil Rights Movement, and think to yourself, "I am so glad that we have finally moved past that as humans."
Well, unfortunately, we haven't.  It has taken us so long to get this far, and we still have so far to go.

I met a man on campus the other day and spoke with him for a while.  He was Saudi Arabian, and was studying here before returning to his country for a graduate degree.  I asked why he came here, and he told me that he had originally gone to London, but that the people there were too racist.  He moved to the United States instead.

Now, before you pat yourself on the back for being a city on the hill, realize that we're pretty racist here, too.  Not necessarily against Saudi Arabians, but there is a lot of intolerance toward Mexicans and South Americans because of immigration struggles.  There are many hate crimes committed against Muslims.  And there are still instances of outright white-supremacist racism.  It's active and it's here, and sometimes it's us.

And of course you're thinking to yourself "well I'm not the problem..."  But sometimes it's hard to realize that maybe you are.  Do you stereotype every Spanish-speaking person you see as "Mexican"?  Believe it or not, many people take offense to that.  Take a minute to think about the things you assume.  You can even have a conversation with people you know about the racially inept things people do, both that you've seen and that you've experienced.  It might not be the easiest of conversations to have, but it will be eye-opening for everyone involved.

Another thing you can do to really honor Martin Luther King and his efforts is to view the day as an opportunity for civil service.  In various areas around the nation, MLK day has become "Martin Luther King Day of Service" and citizens are encouraged to spend the day volunteering to make a difference.  There are so many things you can do in Reverend King's name to commemorate the occasion.  I personally would promote the continuation of the fight for civil rights (it's an ongoing process. So many people worldwide and here in America are denied rights!) or some other public involvement.  But really doing anything to promote peace and understanding throughout your community would easily mark the day.  After all, one of my favorite quotes from Reverend King is this: 

Love is creative and redemptive. Love builds up and unites; hate tears down and destroys. The aftermath of the ‘fight with fire’ method which you suggest is bitterness and chaos, the aftermath of the love method is reconciliation and creation of the beloved community. Physical force can repress, restrain, coerce, destroy, but it cannot create and organize anything permanent; only love can do that. Yes, love—which means understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill, even for one’s enemies—is the solution to the race problem.

The biggest part of today is to carry on doing good.  To continue the pursuit of our happiness and our dreams.  You can kill a man, but you cannot kill what he stood for if that notion and that dream is carried out in the heart of the people.  Not the hearts, but the singular, shared heart of a community unified in mind and in goal.

So I know we're all caught up in important things today.  I still have homework to attend to. I didn't actively commit to civil service today.  But that doesn't mean that I didn't take some time to reflect on my life and the lives of those around me, and whether we are living the best way we can.  And it also doesn't mean that I can't continue to pursue the dreams of this nation and this world another day.  I can serve someone tomorrow.  I can extend love to another person any day this week.  Every single effort we make to do things like that will take us closer to our inevitable goal:

Our goal is to create a beloved community

and this will require a qualitative change in our souls

as well as a quantitative change in our lives.

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.