We have seen much racial strife in America of late. Shootings and rioting have shaped our current view of race relations.
This is sad and as we prepare to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday.
Born in Atlanta, Ga., King was a Baptist minister and activist who was a leader in the civil rights movement and Nobel Prize recipient. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs.
In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People’s Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tenn. His death was followed by riots in many U.S. cities.
Sounds familiar.
America is only become more racially complex. It is no longer just a matter of black and white anymore as Hispanic and Asian populations grow.
Today, MLK Day takes place each year on the third Monday in January, on or about King’s actual Jan. 15 birthday. Although the federal holiday honoring King was signed into law in 1983 and took effect three years later, not every U.S. state chose to observe the holiday at the state level until 1991, when the New Hampshire legislature created “Civil Rights Day” and abolished “Fast Day”. In 2000, Utah became the last state to have a holiday named after King when “Human Rights Day” was officially changed to “Martin Luther King Jr. Day.”
He ignited and led a movement that changed this nation for the better. However, he only started us on the path towards tolerance and understanding.
From Black Lives Matter to Blue Lives Matter to All Lives Matter, we still have a long ways to go.
King had a dream. Let’s use MLK Day as a chance to ignite our own movement to resurrect that dream and go forward.
Dale Hogg