Freeper Campaign to expand Martin Luther King Day to "Activists Day"

1/17/04 | Huber

[Huber]

It's time to do justice to the memory of Dr King and all of the other courageous activists who continue to work for positive change in our society. Just as we recognized the injustice of celebrating the memory of only two presidents, Washington and Lincoln, and established "Presidents Day" (so that we could honor Jackson, Kennedy, Nixon and Clinton as well), it is now time to honor all activists, and hereby declare the second Monday in January, "Activists Day". Activists Day could celebrate, in addition to Dr. King, Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, Jane Fonda, Rachel Corrie (the bulldozer girl), Patricia Ireland, the Reverend Al Sharpton and others as well as (in being inclusive) Phyllis Schlafly, Ward Connerly and others on the right.

What do you all say, can Freepers make a difference in the name of inclusiveness and expand Dr. Martin Luther King Day to Activists Day?

[TaxRelief]

Sound right. Would it actually be Activists' Memorial Day?

[U S Army EOD]

We could take care of that on a case by case basis.

[Huber]

Ya know, this isn't a half-bad idea. Problem is, the civil rights industry considers that day to be "theirs", and any inclusion is, well, against diversity.

Ah, but civil rights professionals are, after all, "fair-minded". I'm sure that they would see that it's "the right thing to do." :->

[Huber]

Sound right. Would it actually be Activists' Memorial Day?

It would be exclusive to limit it to "people of decomposition". Besides, Jesse Jackson probably won't be nearly as effective at chasing TV cameras after he has passed on. Let's not take this great day away from him while he is still among us! (Besides, we would miss the great PR opportunity for our new holiday!)

[risk]

Why do you include King in with those other despicable characters?

[AZLiberty]

In some parts it's already being called "Diversity Day", so it may be too late.

[Huber]

Why do you include King in with those other despicable characters?

What's despicable about Schlafly or Connerly?

The point is, consistent with the revisionist concept of "presidents day", why differentiate between the great and the not so great. Just as we celebrate all presidents, why not celebrate all activists? (Unless we subscribe to the politically incorrect view that history is impacted by great individuals, and not just great trends.)

[Huber]

In some parts it's already being called "Diversity Day", so it may be too late.

Which parts?

[risk]

I didn't know that was politically incorrect! When did that happen? I wasn't informed by the local PC faction for the prevention of abuse of holidays.

[Huber]

They forgot to cc: a number of folks on the memo.

[Tax-chick]

Boy, would that make for some interesting parades ... I think you'd have to sneak in your posters of Ward Connerly and Alan Keyes! I'm imagining the Orangemen crashing the St. Patrick's Day parade in Boston ...

[AZLiberty]

I know of a college that used that term when giving the MLK holiday to their employees. Searching for "Diversity Day" in Google, I see that many organizations have an official Diversity Day -- at no particular time of year.

[Bobby Chang]

As Michael Reagan said, why does King get a day but not George Washington?

[Huber]

Bingo! We should recognize great men and women individually. The collective recognition blurs the unique contribution that each makes. The value of recognizing leadership is that it calls our attention to a model of a life well lived to be considered, and possibly imitated.

The point of Activists's day is that it calls attention to what we have lost in creating "Presidents Day" Until we can restore Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays, put the word out not to isolate King's contribution either. Who knows, but perhaps we can even one day add days of celebration for Reagan, Edmund Burke, and John Locke in recognition of their contribution to our way of life!

[Huber]

Ping!

Do you think that we can make something happen here? (Also see post 15 below)

[Tax-chick]

We'd end up like Europe, or ancient Rome, with so many designated days off that nobody ever goes to work! We'll be observing Lee-Jackson Day on Monday (by mentioning it, and maybe looking at some pictures on the History Channel website) unless we're having a baby instead :-).

[Huber]

Care to weigh in on this?

[dsc]

"Why do you include King in with those other despicable characters?"

Hey, King was no saint. And we'd have made faster progress without all that hooplah than we have.

[risk]

Hey, King was no saint. And we'd have made faster progress without all that hooplah than we have.

Oh I'm sure that plenty of people didn't like what King wrote and said. What's your beef with his activism? What would you have done differently? Are you interested in helping now?

We'll never know how much better things would have been with Doctor King around. I'd like to imagine that a lot of mistakes we've made since his death could have been avoided if he had been here to encourage and direct the civil rights movement.

In any case, the future is this way ----------------->