History Of King Holiday All But Forgotten 25 Years Later

Image via Wikipedia

By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

Monday, January 17 marks the 25th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Day national holiday. President Obama and other administration officials have picked up on the call made repeatedly by the King family and civil rights and social service organizations for the day to be not just about celebration, pageantry, and parades, but a day of service.

Obama's "King initiative" for a day of service puts White House muscle behind the true meaning and spirit of the day and King's life and work. Polls show that a majority of Americans as individuals plan to observe the King holiday in some way.

However, the King holiday is still not the universally observed federal holiday that it could or should be. For the past few years the BNA, an Arlington, Virginia based business and information survey and print service, has taken an annual survey of businesses and governmental agencies to see who is and isn't celebrating observance of Martin Luther King Day. CONTINUE....

Commentary: Sen. Jesse Helms Will No Doubt Get a Send-Off That’s Far More Honorable Than He Was

By: Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com

Speaking kindly of the dead is one of those things expected of civilized people even if it pains them to do so, strains credulity and requires utter hypocrisy.

This is particularly so when the departed is a person who once held a position of honor, prestige and authority. Like, for example, a former United States senator. When there is such a high station involved, the expectation of fond farewells is even greater. Take Richard Nixon’s death, for example. Had you not known already, you would not have learned from the eulogies and benedictions that he once betrayed the very Constitution that he swore to uphold, casting the government into disarray.

Nor, this week, are we likely to hear anything about what made North Carolina’s Jesse Helms one of the late 20th century’s most memorable members of the world’s most deliberative body.

Helms’ prepossessions about race and sexual orientation, combined with his stubborn, blustery, mocking demeanor, made him a stranger to middle ground, and it to him. He was either for or against something. And Americans either loved or loathed him.

COMMENTARY....