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A Guide to MLK Day
In recent years I have been asked by too many clueless employers to work on this holiest of sacred days in the American Negro Calendar, and thus I put forth this guide to restore order to the universe.
Don’t Ask Black People to Work On MLK Day If The Office Is Closed: It’s the only day all of America honors a brother. It took 32 years from 1968 when the idea was first proposed, until 2000 when all 50 states officially observed it as a federal holiday. It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull when you ambush your unsuspecting black employee on Tuesday to say “Uh.., we have this project that just came up and we need you to work the weekend.” It all comes flashing back to us like a war veteran with post-traumatic stress syndrome: Kunta Kinte, Mary Jane Pittman, Sounder, Oprah’s Sophia ”Why I’s always got to fight?!” The Help, The Butler, 12 Years A Slave. We’d like to feel we have come far from our chains of bondage and that we too enjoy the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as outlined by many of our slave holding founding fathers.
Black People Stop Commercializing and Trivializing the Significance of the Holiday: How soon we forget. I really don’t think this is what Dr. King had in mind on that hot day in August of 1963 when he spoke of justice and freedom for all.
He warned that “This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism,” and I fear we have fallen into that trap. For all the successes of Jay Z and LeBron, we had the senseless killing of Trayvon. He asked that “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline,” enduring values that should never go out of style.
What We All Can Do To Honor His Legacy: Read or listen to the full text of his “I Have a Dream” speech. Written almost 51 years ago, its relevance strikes a chord not just for America, but for humanity. If you are moved to work, participate in one of your communities MLK Day of Service projects. And above all, talk to the children, history is doomed to repeat itself if we don’t share our stories.
Great minds think alike. It’s almost eerie how either our parenting either mimics your blog or your blog mimics our parenting. I am proud to say that in previous years, we have had our oldest son either listen or read Dr. King’s speech and this year, he will be honoring the the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. King’s call to service with a Martin Luther King, Jr.–inspired
student art contest. http://www.scholastic.com/MLKDay
Thank you for your reminder…this generation needs it!
Thank you for your words of sanity. MLK Jr. Day is still an optional Federal Holiday and there are some municipalities that have school and do not honor Dr. King. Black or not, Dr. King was a great American that all of citizens owe a great deal. Honoring him should not be optional and his day should certainly not be defiled with such idiocy like twerking.