Am I the only person who finds MLK Day depressing?

[RandySF]

Everyone is on their best behavior re. civil rights when I know a good portion of them are secretly or outwardly hostile towards marginalized Americans.

[NoRethugFriends]

1. Yup. Pretty much a sham.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. I also dislike how it's called the "National Day of Service."

Stops the mind from encompassing all that Dr. King did and worked for.

Volunteering is wonderful. However, solving racism, ending poverty, and a creating a nation of peace requires new federal policies and programs.

[Diamond_Dog]

7. +++

[Ocelot II]

3. When I hear GOPers bloviating about MLK and trying to pretend

their party didn't hate him when he was alive, yes; but I always feel uplifted when I hear the "I have a dream" speech.

[happybird]

4. I'm just glad this bs was eliminated:

Lee-Jackson-King Day.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee%E2%80%93Jackson%E2%80%93King_Day

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. People misrepresent his philosophy every day of the year, so no.

[MyOwnPeace]

6. I find it hard to believe....

that this same day would ever be passed with the people we have in Congress now.
Really, there’s just NO way the Republicans would EVER let it pass into law….

[Hortensis]

8. :) Good grief? We have MLK Day because by far most people are on the "MLK side."

Problems that make "the news" aren't the reality.

They're like cars from an accident pulled over to the verge of a highway where tens of thousands of vehicles pass safely each day, what everyone notices but not what's happening.

For just an example of reality, over three quarters of Americans approved and supported the #BLM marches in 2020. The movement his leadership lives on in is not only far from dead but far advanced since he played his big part.

[Mysterian]

9. It's a sad memory of how Dr. King was killed

But also a happy day because he gave us hope for a better tomorrow.

[EnergizedLib]

10. I wouldn't call it depressing

It’s a life and cause worth celebrating, not just on this day. Just call them out and see through their nonsense.

[LenaBaby61]

11. What depresses me is having to remember as a kid having to live through that day .....

I went to Catholic school, and remember how the Nuns and fathers were falling to the ground crying, sobbing and wailing, and how the lay teachers fell to the ground tearing up their stockings, mascara and make up running down their faces, and how much pain everybody was in. We were just about ready to go home. Our principal, a Nun had a male cousin who was like a brother to her who worked as a janitor at St. Joseph's Hospital where MLK was taken, and so he called our principal Sister Helena, and that's how we here in Los Angeles found out about it that afternoon. Oh God, being called out on the school yard and hearing it officially from Sister Helena from the loud speaker.


Then a few months later, I can remember my parents waking me up out of a dead sleep and telling me that Bobby Kennedy had been shot, and is probably dead. My late Mom had friend who was a nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital, and she called my Mom who was on vacation from the hospital she worked at, and told Mom that Bobby Kennedy was bought into the hospital a while ago, but wasn't going to make it no matter what the news was reporting. When I got older, I read that Robert Kennedy was pronounced dead the next day, but my late Mom's friend said that was known already, but was not releasedto the public. Yeah, I could imagine.

As a 7 year old, I did NOT get much sleep the rest of that year, because of those sad, gut-wrenching, earth-shattering events running through my mind all year, plus I had to deal with my older brother who was drafted and who had to go over to Vietnam.