The hard work and dedication of politicians, civil rights leaders, grassroots activists and others created the first Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday on January 20, 1986. It was the first holiday recognizing a Black man and King was only the third person, along with Christopher Columbus and George Washington, to hold the distinction of a national holiday in his honor. In the beginning, Dr. King's widow, Coretta Scott King, and her family envisioned the holiday as a national day of unity and a time when people could study and discuss the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Over the 16 years the holiday has been recognized on the third Monday in January, Coretta King and the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change have refined the focus to include community service as a priority on Martin Luther King Day. The date of the 2002 holiday is January 21.
"We have called for people to remember to celebrate, and most importantly, to act," Coretta King says. "We like to say we celebrate the birthday and not memorialize it, as we do in April. Now we should ask people to really commemorate his life with some form of service and to give back to the community."
This is designed to convey the message and spirit of Dr. King far beyond April 4, 1968, when he was gunned down while assisting sanitation workers in Memphis, Tenn. "Martin Luther King gave his life loving and serving others, and we think it's a very appropriate way to celebrate the day," Coretta King says. "People can come together in a spirit of cooperation, love and humanitarian service to help somebody else."
Coretta King's renewed emphasis on service for the holiday carries the flame that buoyed the Civil Rights Movement led by King in the 1950s and 1960s. One volunteer of that era, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., answered the call of service as a college student. He joined the Freedom Riders, a group of mixed-race activists who tested new segregation laws at bus terminals in the South. Lewis was severely beaten by mobs for his actions as a Freedom Rider and as a participant in the Selma demonstration that started the Selma-to-Montgomery March. Yet he continued to serve in the movement through sit-ins and other demonstrations.
"The best way to celebrate the King [holiday] is with a day of service," says Lewis, who is the author of the best-selling book, Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement. "Go out and do something to uplift someone in need. It can be working at a community center, doing something for the elderly, helping children, cleaning up a park or a neighborhood. That's what Dr. King was all about--service."
Lewis added: "We need to get more and more of our young people--all young people, Black, White, Hispanic Asian-American or Native American--to look at Dr. King as more than a leader and orator, but as someone who got out and did good. They can also be workers for good."
Community service promotes goodwill along with peace, another major tenet of Dr. King's message, says Martin Luther King III, son of Dr. King and head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. "A great tribute would be for us to have a day where there's no violence," King says.
His mother stressed the central importance of nonviolence.
"People need to realize that Martin Luther King embraced the philosophy of nonviolence," Coretta King says. "He lived it not only as a way of life, but also as a way of resolving problems and conflicts. Ultimately, any problems we face can be solved if we use the message that he left us. He left us a blueprint in his writings. If we could study Martin and use his words and philosophy more wisely, it could carry us a long way into the 21st century in terms of bringing about peace, justice, equality and prosperity."
In some modern circles, Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence falls on deaf ears, Congressman Lewis says. "Some people think it is old hat or a bygone philosophy. He believed in it. He believed in love, in action, and we don't teach people to love each other. Dr. King said hate is too heavy a burden to bear. Whether it is the highest level of government, academic communities, business, media, sports or whatever, we need to get this message of love over. We need to respect human dignity and worth."
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