MLK Day
So it’s MLK Day here in the US of A. What does it mean? What happens?
Well I’m sure plenty of things happen somewhere, but to me and to most people I ever bump into, it means it’s a Monday.
MLK Day is just like President’s Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Memorial Day for me; a holiday no different than the others; it just happens to have a different name.
To that extent it’s much less important, or celebrated, than Halloween, Valentine’s Day or St Patrick’s Day - three holidays that aren’t even holidays.
Actually that’s not fair - there is something different that happens to me every year on MLK Day than happens to me on President’s Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day or Memorial Day. Every year people come to me and complain that Martin Luther King Day exists, and they do this as they helpfully point out that they’re not racist. Those same people never come to me and complain that racism exists.
I have a dream that one day all the children of America will be given too much candy on a day that celebrates not the colour of the candy, but the content.
There is a mural of Martin Luther King Jr in Kansas City that features on the MLK Wikipedia page (under ‘Legacy’ near the bottom). It’s a mural I walk past regularly, and is tucked out of the way of the city as it overlooks an unlandscaped lump of broken up concrete.
See Also:
• Halloween in Ireland: A Quiz
• A Columbus Day celebration
• Easter in Ireland: No Bunny
• St Stephen’s Day
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