January 15 is Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.
Back when I was a kid in school, I am not sure I really grasped why we had this mid-January day off. I knew MLK was a public figure fighting for racial equality, who was assassinated. I’d heard bits and pieces of the “I Have A Dream” speech. I knew my favorite band, U2, made a reference to MLK’s death in their song “Pride (In The Name Of Love).”
Otherwise, it was always cool to have another day off a couple weeks after returning from the Christmas break.
Nowadays, of course, I look at things like freedom, humanitarianism, and injustice a bit differently and more critically. As a social worker, its hard not to. Last week I began reading Howard Zinn’s book “A People’s History of The United States”. This book sat on my book shelf gathering dust for the last couple of years; it was recommended to me a while ago and while I knew what the gist of the book was about, I kept hesitating to read it. I’m only a few chapters in, but for those who haven’t read Zinn, this book will open your eyes. If for no other reason, Zinn’s work must be praised for attempting to compile a historical retelling of what “progress” has looked like in the U.S. from the point of view of those who were oppressed in the name of progress.
And so, as we reflect on what freedom, progress and justice mean to us, let us pay homage to the man who made it his life’s mission to affect social change for those whose voices were oppressed for far too long.
An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. ~MLK
Ideas to Make Martin Luther King Day More Than Just Another Day Off | The Stir
