Monday, January 20, 2025 will mark the 39th time our nation will formally
observe Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a national holiday. As we all know, Dr. King
was a Baptist minister whose efforts created monumental changes to our nation
through the Civil Rights movement. Sadly, Dr. King’s work was cut short when he
was assassinated on April 4, 1968.
Dr. King’s impact on our country was so profound that it only took four days
following his death for legislation to be introduced seeking to create a federal
holiday in his honor. Yet, despite all the good Dr. King had achieved, he was still a
polarizing figure in a nation where racial divisions ran deep. The 1968 legislation
would not even make it far enough for a vote. And while it might seem
unthinkable today, it would take another 15 years for that vote to take place.
In 1983, the United States Congress passed legislation designating the 3rd
Monday of every January a national holiday in honor of Dr. King. The bill was
signed by President Ronald Reagan that same year, and the very first national
observance of the holiday took place three years later in 1986.
I could dedicate an entire column and more to the struggles in establishing this
observance, but for this column I am focusing on honoring the legacy of Dr. King.
I once heard it said that we have two things for which we are not responsible: the
day we are born and the day we die. Our gravestones will be marked with a dash
between those two dates, indicating the time we spent living. While we aren’t
responsible for the days we were granted to enter into and exit from this world,
we are responsible for how we spent our time in between. Dr. King forged
remarkable accomplishments within his ‘dash,’ for which the world is forever
grateful. Martin Luther King Jr. is a true hero. He was somebody who was called
to the ministry to teach, preach, and lead a congregation. By all accounts he was
an exceptional minister who touched many lives, and that alone would have
made him an exceptional man.
However, Dr. King answered to an even higher calling far beyond the wonderful
things he was able to achieve through his ministry. Those greater things centered
on revolutionary social justice work of the highest order that led to the end of
segregation in our country.
As we look back today, it is hard to understand that there was once such stiff
opposition to making Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday. In fact it is likely a
sign of how far we have come in this country that the legacy of Dr. King is now
forever rooted in our memories and history. It is not just the determined cadence
of his voice as he delivered his iconic, “I Have a Dream” speech that lives on, but
the fruits of his labor that resulted in the equality that we take for granted today.
Many of the words spoken by Dr. King have become emblematic of an all-
inclusive society. Dr. King did indeed change the world.
Fittingly, in 1994, MLK Day was officially declared as the only national holiday
designated as a national day of service. So while you may have the day off from
work, you are encouraged to make it a day ‘on’ by doing volunteer work of some
kind to benefit our community. From food pantries to veterans organizations to
groups that work with the disabled, Clarkstown is home to a wide variety of
charitable organizations where you can give back. In addition to my usual
volunteer work, I will be attending several ceremonies marking the day with pride
on just how far our country has come thanks to the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. and the many others he inspired.
