jews against mlk day

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How not to celebrate Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King Day has just not caught on, said many editorialists in advance of last Monday's commemoration of the birthday of America's greatest civil rights leader. Only about one-quarter of the states in the union have adopted the national holiday.

Given the way the country has chosen to mark its most significant events and people, it is not necessary a sign of disrespect to Dr. King when states do not adopt the King holiday.

Our country has made the following equations: Respect = doing nothing productive. Historical memory = picnics. Awareness of greatness = watching a football game. Our country has enforced the meaningless of public holidays by scheduling them on Mondays whenever feasible. The message is clear: MLK Day (as well as Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day) are mere excuses to take a long weekend.

Holidays are for commemoration -- visiting cemeteries, honoring survivors, recalling great people or events. This can only happen if holidays are allowed, once again, to fall on their normal date, regardless of the day of the week.

Especially mindless is the idea that schools should be closed on Martin Luther King Day. Quite the contrary. The way to respect a great person is to study his contributions. Schools should be open on, at the very least, MLK Day, Presidents Day and Veterans Day, so that our children learn their significance.

In Denver, some 30,000 people attended a march in Martin Luther King's honor. Perhaps one-third of them -- 10,000 people -- were children: a fraction of the students in the metro Denver area. Imagine how many more students would have understood the significance of Rev. King, of the constitution, of the civil rights movement and of human equality had they been in school, dedicating a whole day of study to these critical topics.

In Judaism, we commemorate suffering by fasting, destruction by ritual, freedom by reenactment, Divine revelation by study. These nurture understanding and collective memory infinitely better than equating sacred remembrance with vacation.

Our public holidays have become, in essence, negative: days on which we don't do something. MLK Day would be more widely and wisely observed if it were held on the very day of Dr. King's birthday -- regardless of the day of the week -- and if it were transformed into a day of active study and remembrance, especially in our schools.


jews believe , on mlk day , blacks should study and do homework in remembrance and not adopt the king holiday with a vacation


source : intermountain jewish news .