In Observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day
‘Cause somebody has too. It seems in Puerto Rico, that this day passes without so much as a glance. Only Federal facilities are off today, while most businesses (including banks) comport themselves as if it was a normal workday.
Hispanics in the U.S. complain that THEY don’t have a DAY. They ask why the influential Hugo Chávez who fought for the rights of immigrant workers doesn’t have a day… as if everyone needs a DAY, a special day to call their very own, to love him and pet him, to squeeze him and hug him. Is Martin Luther King Jr. Day just a token black holiday?
Our honoring of Martin Luther King Jr. is not an acquiescence to black pressure, an ethnic hero of choice for those darker Americans so that they may feel like they are somebody. I shout an emphatic NO! even though the road to a national holiday was frought with much debate over this very topic. He’s just a black leader. He’s a womanizer. How can we put him on a pedestal with the likes of Washington, Lincoln? America finally "gave in," and bit by bit they adopted the national holiday that was to become Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I imagine there are many still grumbling, and I wonder if white folks don’t like the feeling that maybe there’s a black man telling them what to do.
Folks, Martin Luther King Jr. was not a great Black American, he was a great American. Martin Luther King Jr. restored OUR sullied, tattered, torn constitution to what it originally intended. Martin Luther King Jr. restored your rights, whatever your ethnicity. He restored your dignity whatever you call yourself. He gave back to you what was stolen from you. He fought, suffered, and died for YOU, you Americans, you Hispanic Americans, you Native Americans, you Chinese, Korean, Philipino, Croatian, Polish, German, Italian, Irish, French, Scandanavian, Russian, Indian, and Arab Americans. Martin Luther King Jr. wrestled with the soul of a nation, a lethargic broken lost shadow of its former self and fought to restore its heart, its core. He struggled to return to YOU what you deserved, what every person deserves.
I say to every American citizen that did not take time to reflect on what Martin Luther King Jr. did for you individually, shame on you! Shame on your shortsightedness. Shame on your selfishness. Shame on your cluelessness.
The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Martin Luther King Jr. pulled many a long night by himself, hands bloody, arms weary, against apathy, hatred, bigotry, and even physical death. He pulled and pulled and pulled a sinking America kicking and screaming back into focus, back toward justice, back toward righteousness,
For you.