Is MLK Day Fair?
In 1968 the Civil Rights movement was at an all time high with a dedicated
leader, Martin Luther King Jr.. Standing on a balcony in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4th of that year, he was assassinated. To honor him and the emergence of Civil Rights, Martin Luther King Day was designated a national holiday in 1986. In most schools around the nation, elementary through college, this holiday is a day off. The day is supposed to be used to remember the Civil Rights movement and how far minorities have come since. I believe we should do away with the title Martin Luther King Jr. Day and rename it Civil Rights Day.
MLK was a great man and did many great things; but I have to wonder, why does he get the holiday named solely after him? When a young person in America today thinks about Civil Rights, they think of MLK. There were many other import people that helped influence and worked to create an equal America with equal rights, no matter race. JFK, President Johnson, Freddrick Douglass, and Malcom X all played a major role, but they are not recognized the same. Why is one person recognized above the rest?
Having a day like this gives people a false sense that every race is now equal. To quote one of my favorite blogs, Outside Report, we now have a day in which millions of us think for a second, “gee, that Dr. King sure was a great guy and a great speaker..Sure glad we solved that race stuff.”
Civil rights are far from being solved. It is an ongoing, essentially never-ending process, and many more people will have their own influence on it in the future.
A day that recognizes one man should recognize a great man and a man whom most agreed with. Most people know of Dr. King as the man with the “I
Have A Dream Speech,” but there is another side of him that people either do not know or have chosen to forget. Dr. King protested the Vietnam War, going against his nation and against the troops. He held many rallies for the mass redistribution of wealth among minorities, and had strong socialist views. All of these characteristics made him and his followers more radical in the way they were approaching Civil Rights, which led to many riots and severe backlash.
This brings me back to my argument that Martin Luther King Day is just a day to add to the weekend. If this day is so historic, why not spend time in school learning about it. In order to get this holiday as a non-school day, students have to go to school on President’s Day, which pays tribute to all of the great men that have led this nation and grown America into what it is today. The holiday is being passed over and becoming more meaningless each year. To get MLK Day back to what it was created to honor, we need to find away to connect this to what it began as, the Civil Rights movement.
This is why I believe that we should get rid of Martin Luther King Day and rename it Civil Rights Day. Civil Rights Day would be on the same day and mean the same thing. Renaming the holiday would allow all individuals and groups that influenced civil rights to receive credit.
Again, I would like to reiterate, in no way am I saying that Dr. King was not a great man and did not do wonderful things. I believe what he did created a huge push for minorities in America. I find it hard to commemorate one man when so many others had roles.
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