The Truth About MLK Day
a brief history of the passage of a divisive and manipulated federal holiday
After having lived through the undeniable racial division of 2020, it’s time for the USA to stop giving itself a pat on the back every MLK day and, instead, take an honest look at this federal holiday’s history and significance. Unlike most annual Martin Luther King Day commemorations, this article focuses on the curious story of the US Congress’s long struggle to pass the MLK Day bill, highlighting the ongoing issue of America’s problem with (and failure to adequately address) racism.
In 1968, Congressman John Conyers (D) introduced the first bill to “commemorate the life and service to his country” of Martin Luther King Jr. In every US Congress from 1968 to 1982, these bills (numerous, amended versions) were introduced and rejected. In total, 47 congressional bills were introduced on the subject and blocked — mostly by southern Republicans such as Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond (a staunch segregationist during the civil rights movement).
Congress nearly passed the MLK day bill in 1979, but was just short of the required two-thirds majority vote. In Conyer’s failed appeal in ’79, he said that passage of the bill would “make the most positive statement it can that the sectional and racial chapter of America’s history has been closed forever.” It seems that opposition members of congress took this idea and twisted it. ‘Close the racial chapter of America’s history? The civil rights issue closed ‘forever’? No more claims of racism to deal with? In retrospect, it looks as if this line of neoliberal thinking helped the bill pass four years later with overwhelming Republican approval.
It took continued pressure to promote the MLK bill again in 1982, applied by Tip O’Neill (D), who held a petition with six million signatures presented to him by none other than Coretta Scott King and Stevie Wonder. Even so, when the bill was reintroduced in the summer of 1983, it didn’t pass without debate. Over a dozen Republicans and a handful of Democrats still opposed the legislation. Republican from California, Rep. Dannemeyer complained about the cost of a new, paid, federal holiday. Rep. Parren Mitchell, a Congressional Black Caucus member, replied, “What do you mean ‘cost?’ What was the cost of keeping us blacks where we were?” To those who have been appalled by America’s racial division exposed on social media over the past few years, this might come as a shock to some of you: It’s been here since the beginning.
In heated fashion, North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms (R) protested the 1983 bill by launching a filibuster against it. Referring directly to Dr. King’s FBI file, he hurled personal attacks against King’s character, including his alleged communist associations and adultery. While Helms attempted to discredit King, Sen. Moynihan (D) tossed his files to the floor and called it a “packet of filth.”
In fact, the majority of Republicans supported the MLK bill in 1983. Rep. Jack Kemp urged fellow Republicans to “commemorate the civil rights revolution and guarantee those basic declarations of human rights for all Americans and remove those barriers…” Kemp wanted his party to stand on the right side of history. But what’s implicit in Kemp’s statement and others, however, is the idea that passage of the MLK holiday would ipso facto “remove” those racial barriers. Thus, there would be no need for any further “civil rights revolution” once it was commemorated and laid to rest.
In contrast, Conyers reminded congress that passage of the bill would be “an indication of the commitment of …the nation to the dream of Dr. King. When we pass this legislation we should signal our commitment to the realization of… freedom for all.” These two statements show the divide in understanding and the uses of MLK’s holiday. For Democrats like Conyers (an African-American congressman who championed the idea for fifteen years), it meant a commitment to continuing the work of anti-racism, fully aware that racial discrimination was still alive and festering. For many Republicans, enacting the MLK holiday meant closing the chapter on the US civil rights movement once and for all, as if voting on this bill would magically sweep all racism off the American table. In reality, they only swept it under the rug.
The bill passed in the Democratic controlled House and then in the Republican controlled Senate. With even Strom Thurmond voting for the bill, one wonders if fellow Republicans convinced him that civil rights protest and legislation would be forever buried along with its passage. On November 2, 1983, the MLK day bill was officially signed by President Reagan. He said, in what comes across as perhaps the weakest endorsement ever, “Since they seem bent on making it a national holiday, I believe the symbolism of that day is important enough that I would — I’ll sign that legislation.”
Triumphal speeches given on the day of the White House signing arouse curiosity. Reagan used the phrase “true justice must be colorblind”, while Coretta Scott King emphasized the “pursuit of truth” and justice. At first glance these two messages might appear similar, but did Reagan’s words signal the familiar conservative claim of “colorblindness” (and with it the baseless argument that if you’re simply bringing up race, then you are being racist)? If so, this contrasts sharply with Coretta’s recognition of the pursuit — the ongoing struggle toward a truly free, fair, post-racial society — that must continue.
The point here is not that MLK day shouldn’t be celebrated. Of course it should, along with honoring all the unsung heroes of civil rights movements — men, women, and children — before, during and after King’s era. But, perhaps more importantly, we should take the history of its passage as a stark reminder that our work toward racial justice is clearly not done and that King’s dream is far from reality. If we truly want progress, we will need to continue the struggle. However, if we continue to use the holiday in order to push the notion that we live in a colorblind society, this is not only false, but points to the heart of the damaging division we’ve all borne witness to in this country. It’s part of the lie that denies America’s racist past and — if not dealt with honestly — ensures a troubled future.
SOURCES:
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday: The Long Struggle in Congress by Don Wolfensberger. Woodrow Wilson Intl. Center for Scholars. Jan. 14, 2008 https://web.archive.org/web/20110303194404/http://www.wilsoncenter.org/events/docs/King%20Holiday-essay-drw.pdf
http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1872501,00.html
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/king-national-holiday