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The Spectacle Blog
It’s become my annual Martin Luther King Day tradition to call attention to Steve Sailer’s proposal to boost the holiday’s popularity by moving it to a better time of year:
Martin Luther King Day is the least popular federal holiday-only 29 percent of employers give their workers the day off. Not many non-blacks care. This upsets African-Americans. Black comedian Chris Rock says, “You gotta be pretty racist to not want a day off from work.”
The dead of winter, however, after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year, is the stupidest possible time to offer another holiday.
To fix this, we should move Martin Luther King Day to the Friday before Labor Day to commemorate his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963 … and, to give Americans a summer-ending four-day weekend.
Sailer, who correctly notes that “King wasn’t a saint” but he was a hero in the process of ending Jim Crow, says that “even the Grand Kleagle would be demanding Martin Luther King Day off from his foreman down at the hog-rendering plant” if such a change was made.
View all comments (16) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/17/move-martin-luther-king-day
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Mike Campbell| 1.17.11 @ 3:26PM
If I'm not mistaken, today is also Ben Franklins' birthday. Now how many of American schools even mention this and how many graduates even know how important Ben Franklin was to the founding of this country?
Alan Brooks| 1.17.11 @ 6:27PM
"Sailer, who correctly notes that 'King wasn't a saint' "
In other words, some whites think white men can have sex with black women, but it was wrong for MLK to sleep with white women?
You give a pass to white extra-marital relations, but not to blacks'. Now, that isn't to write that miscegenation isn't much more accepted today, but... why pick on MLK's extramarital relations-- and retroactively at that?
Clint| 1.17.11 @ 7:27PM
In other words, MLK was The Tiger Woods of his day & got away with it.
Curtis Rasmussen| 1.17.11 @ 8:59PM
Alan Brooks| 1.17.11 @ 6:27PM
"You give a pass to white extra-marital relations, but not to blacks'"
No one here said that. Watch out for the racist straw man argument.
1. Someone here makes a comment
2. Alan, Brooks, Liberal Reader et. al., or all-in-one, counters with a fallacious restatement of the original comment, one that is easier to refute.
3. Alan Brooks will then condemn this whole thread as racist based upon the fantasy that she herself conjured. Typical troll, and a racially biased one at that.
As for me, I say move or get rid of the holiday. Back in my naive youth, I could guarantee that my vacation request would never be turned down if I asked for MLK day off. This is not viewed as a day for all Americans, but is viewed as a PC guilt trip by many.
tonypal| 1.17.11 @ 9:03PM
Alan, I didn't see anything in the original post to suggest that anyone believes "some whites think white men can have sex with black women, but it was wrong for MLK to sleep with white women?" Where did you read that?
BD57| 1.17.11 @ 9:07PM
I'm going to need some help here ...
I don't see any reference to King's "dating habits" in Sailer's posting or in Antle's.
Perhaps I've missed something ....
b/c if I haven't, then - what's the point of your post, again?
Patriot| 1.17.11 @ 4:31PM
The only KKK Grand Kleagle I ever knew about was Democrat Senator Robert Byrd.
Floyd Looney| 1.17.11 @ 4:39PM
August 28 would be better, there aren't any good Holidays in August.
Clint| 1.17.11 @ 4:47PM
February 30th would be Progressive.
George Dutch| 1.17.11 @ 5:56PM
It might be fitting to switch the celebration to Barack Obama's birthday (Aug 4), to observe the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream. Regardless of your politics, it's not unreasonable to say that in getting elected President, Mr. Obama is now much more significant than Dr. King.
Sean| 1.17.11 @ 8:02PM
It is not a popular holiday because it isn't a holiday for most people. There is no tradition to it at all. It is a holiday by fiat. Sure it is nice that you might get a day off, but without some sort of tradition most Americans won't care enough about it.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.17.11 @ 8:20PM
The MLK holiday has turned into a black fest where black citizens appear on local and national channels and complain about how things used to be. It's boring because the chance of it ever happening again are nil. Even the movie channels get in on the act showing outdated movies that portray the white race as full of racists just waiting to get the black man.
If anything MLK holiday is a day ignored because it was a ridiculous concept from the get go. It only reinforces racial stereotypes and somehow whites are excluded from any media outlet to share their vision of America.
If its moved anywhere it should be moved off the calendar.
Blackwatch| 1.18.11 @ 12:23AM
THIS MESSAGE IS FOR ANYONE WHO WAS PAID TO TAKE TODAY OFF FROM HIS/HER JOB AND WHINED ABOUT IT HERE:
so its a cold, rainy, whatever type of day---and you are going to whine about the weather when your employer HAS to pay you to take the day off?
YOU SUCK AS A PERSON-- THIEF. GIVE YOUR EMPLOYER HIS/HER MONEY BACK IF ITS SUCH A BITCH TO GET FREE MONEY DURING THE WINTER.
YOU PUSSIES WOULDN'T HAVE SURVIVED THE WINTER IN VALLEY FORGE WITH GENERAL WASHINGTON, WALKING WITH YOUR OXEN ON THE OREGON TRAIL, OR A WEEKEND RIDE IN YOUR RUSTY PLYMOUTH ON WHAT USED TO BE ROUTE 66.
MAN UP DOUCHEBAG WHINERS.
Patriot| 1.18.11 @ 2:12AM
I think you meant to post at HuffPo, dude.
darcy| 1.18.11 @ 1:08AM
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is NOT a holiday: there is nothing HOLY about it.
It is a secular day of commemoration for a '60's civil rights leader.
Let's get our terms right.
tom| 1.18.11 @ 9:54AM
Yeah, and then they would be unable to make an orgy of college and pro hoops as the theme of the day , as if hoops is the essence of MLK and black americans.