Civil Rights Progress Titters As Nation Celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

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Civil Rights Progress Titters As Nation Celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

January 21st, 2016

Awake Goy

The nation observes day honoring its non-violent civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. (shown above).

The nation observes a day honoring its non-violent civil rights activist, Martin Luther King, Jr. (shown above).

This year marks the 30^th anniversary of the federal holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., (MLK), Nobel Peace Prize winning civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968. Some states initially declined to honor the holiday but in 2000, the last of the hesitant states – South Carolina – did so. A Bloomberg BNA survey found that fewer than 40% of American workers have MLK day off. That’s about the same as President’s Day and far behind Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Residents across the nation celebrated MLK Day in various ways. Included in the observations were prayer breakfasts, parades, protests, commemorative services, distance runs and community service projects. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, people in all 50 states had made plans to deliver meals, renovate community centers, and/or collect food and clothing, among other acts of service.

Following the theme of community service, President and First Lady Obama planted vegetable seeds at a Washington, D.C. elementary school both to honor MLK and to celebrate Mrs. Obama’s anti-childhood obesity initiative. In Flint, Michigan, a city whose residents are primarily black and poor, people delivered bottled water because the city’s water supply is contaminated with lead.

In 2015 the Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina Statehouse; it had flown there for the previous 17 years. On MLK day approximately 1,000 people gathered at the Statehouse where the Democratic presidential candidates were appearing, and heard Secretary Clinton say, “We couldn’t celebrate him [MLK] and the Confederacy. We had to choose. And South Carolina made the right choice.”

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, people marched onto a Mississippi River bridge to protest the deaths of two black men shot by police last year in the Twin Cities. In Atlanta, Georgia, an overflow crowd at Ebenezer Baptist Church for the annual MLK Commemorative Service heard MLK’s daughter the Rev. Bernice King say, “if people continue being distracted by reality shows and music that tear down instead of building up, a reality host will bully himself into becoming president of the USA”.

For voting rights advocates, MLK Day occurs during what they consider at a dark period for them as they have suffered a serious legal setback. A major part of the Voting Rights Act was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013 and now 33 states have enacted voter ID laws that make it difficult for some groups of people, notably minorities and the elderly, to vote. This year’s election will be the first with the new laws in place.

Donna Brazile, member of the Democratic National Committee, recognizes that “over the last few years, the country has stumbled backward.” However, some recent Pew Research data indicate that the majority of Americans are still committed to the country taking measures to assure the equal rights of blacks and others. Brazil concluded by stating that the struggle continues and everyone should live in what MLK called “the fierce urgency of now.”