You Create a New Holiday and It's Still Not Enough

A former ally of Martin Luther King Jr. is a little grumpy about the MLK holiday:

DALLAS, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A Dallas minister who marched with civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Monday's birthday observance holiday is an insult to his legacy.

The Rev. Peter Johnson, 62, director of the Texas operations for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told The Dallas Morning News the holiday should be on April 4, the anniversary of the date King was assassinated.

"We have ignored the essence of his life and the horror of his death," said Johnson. "We've allowed white America to escape the guilt of his assassination and we've allowed black America to drift back into a coma."

Johnson said King is considered a martyr by many but said, if he were alive, he would be considered an agitator by many people, the newspaper said.

"We remember him with parades and galas and banquets, things that are really irrelevant and silly regarding Dr. King's legacy," he said. "If we really want to honor Dr. King, we should do something about people who live under bridges. That would be a great tribute."

Let's be honest, it was white guilt that generated this holiday in the first place. There are lots of people who have done substantial things for this country who will never be honored with a holiday. In fact, we've actually taken holidays away from some very deserving men. When I was a kid we had a holiday for both Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays. Now there's just a single generic "President's Day", and many businesses don't even take that day off. Nobody spends that day honoring our presidents.

What do you think many supporters of MLK would have said if the government had placed the holiday on the day he was assassinated as Rev. Johnson suggests? They would have claimed the country was not honoring his life, but celebrating his assassination. How do you think that would have gone over in all those black churches that Democrat candidates preach in each weekend?

Take a deep breath, Rev. Johnson, and calm down.

By the way, I ran across another article that mentions that Gen. Robert E. Lee's birthday was Jan. 19th and in several states celebrate both holidays on the same day. In Arkansas, then Governor Mike Huckabee played a role in uniting the holidays:

In 1997, a spokesman for then-Gov. Mike Huckabee said that both men should be honored. Huckabee, currently running for the Republican presidential nomination, in 1999 signed the bill that gave the Legislature a holiday on King Day.

"They're both heroes. Their birthdays come the same week and you know the government likes to have holidays at the start of the week," spokesman Rex Nelson said then.

But the president of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said in 1997 that it seemed inappropriate to honor King on the same day.

"Dr. King worked hard to unify the country," Dale Charles said. "I wouldn't say General Lee would be in the same notion of Martin Luther King. He was a great general and all, but he didn't come close to what Martin Luther King was about."

What do you want to bet that somebody decides to make that an issue if Huckabee becomes the nominee?