MLK Day - Still Significant?

Martin Luther King Jr. had a message he wished to spread across the U.S. about nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement. He helped to successfully protest racial discrimination in federal and state law. Unfortunately, his message is no longer heard loud and clear.  In this generation, students said what MLK stood for is less important than what it used to mean.

Christina Stradwick, a sophomore, said she took the time on Martin Luther King Day to discuss with friends how nice it is that they can all be friends and go to the same school thanks to the civil rights movement. Stradwick said they also discussed how sad it is more people are using the holiday as an excuse to have a free day, rather than appreciate the rights they have now.

"I think that sometimes people don't realize how important it actually is. People get excited for [the holiday] because everyone gets a day off work or school, but they don't realize how important it is or how important he was," said Stradwick.

Not only is it important to look at what MLK stood for when he was alive, but also to focus on the holiday itself and what people had to go through to make it happen.

It took 15 years to create the federal holiday in MLK’s memory. U.S. Representative John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, and U.S. State Senator Edward Brooke, a Republican from Massachusetts, first introduced legislation for the commemorative holiday just four days after MLK was assassinated in 1968.

After the bill was stalled, petitions in support of the holiday with six million names were submitted to Congress. In a 2006 article in The Nation it was deemed "the largest petition in favor of an issue in U.S. history."

Conyers and Representative Shirley Chisholm, a Democrat from New York, resubmitted the MLK holiday legislation each legislative session. Public pressure for the holiday also increased during the 1982 and 1983 civil rights marches in Washington.

Congress finally passed the holiday legislation in 1983, which was then signed into law by President Ronald Reagan.

         To overcome opposition to the holiday, a compromise was formed that instead of holding the holiday on Jan. 15, MLK's birthday, it would be held the third Monday in January - to move it farther from Christmas and New Year's.

         Some states resisted celebrating the holiday - some opponents said that MLK didn't deserve his own holiday because the entire civil rights movement should be celebrated, rather than an individual. It was officially observed in all 50 states for the first time in 2000.

While his message is becoming harder to hear, there are those who still take the time to remember MLK's dream and what he stood for. Students said this could be tied to this year’s re-election of Obama and his inauguration on Jan. 21. Holding the nation's first African-American president's second inauguration on MLK Day gave citizens another reason to celebrate. The question is, will they feel the same way next year?

Sophomore Ethan Bartlett said he used his free day on Jan. 21 to look back on important moments in MLK history as well as pay attention to the history going on today.

"I spent most of the day watching some of the inauguration ceremonies. I read a lot of things on MLK just to see different speeches, I read the "I Have a Dream" speech and I reflected on it a lot," said Bartlett.

I personally tracked the inauguration via Twitter. Attendees continually tweeted updates giving quotes from President Obama’s and others’ speeches as well as other events throughout the day. I found this extremely convenient being in a car for nine hours from North Carolina with no access to television (the mountains do not typically offer good service to watch clips on a smartphone). I was still informed of what was happening and enjoyed being able to see how my friends reacted to the president’s speech as it was being posted and sharing my reactions as well.

Other things that could be seen on social media, such as Facebook, were pictures of MLK with memorable quotes, showing support for the man who helped changed many lives.

For those in older generations, they will hold MLK's dream firm in their mind for the rest of their lives. They lived through it and watched history happen. However, what of the younger generations that do not understand the hardships they did not have to face?

The new generation experiences difficult times via social media by posting pictures of those that have passed, asking for prayers or likes for a cause and other such things all done with a keyboard and a click of a mouse.

The fear the people are looking at now is that activism will no longer be as active if it means going beyond a screen. The younger generations are losing empathy by seeing crucial events happen online all the time. They need more to care for and especially to care for longer than a week until the next major event occurs.

I find myself pushing away from politics and important events because everyone pushes them into my life via social media.  It may connect everyone to the world and what’s happening around them, but it also weakens our compassion and our desire to be more active with the world itself.

MLK fought and struggled for years to make his dream come true and it led to his death. Others in the civil rights movement fought, struggled and hoped for a better nation for themselves and their children. Now that the people have achieved this to some level the fear now is that the dream will eventually fade, lose its significance and die.