11. January 15, 2007

Tomorrow is a legal holiday in this country, celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Arguments have been made that no single person in this country deserves a holiday of their own. The only other persons who have one are Jesus Christ and Christopher Columbus. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays were combined into Presidents Day several years ago, a day no one seems to celebrate except car dealers and mattress warehouses.

Today's comment is related to the celebration of the holiday, and specifically the way it is celebrated in Louisville, Kentucky, here on the Left Bank of the Ohio River at Milepost 606. Among the events to be held tomorrow is a caravan sponsored by a group called PRIDE, an African-American group in this little burg ran by George Burney, Sr., a retired entertainer who for many years has been an advocate for African-Americans in various dealings with their various governments. The caravan commences from the Lyles Plaza parking lot at 28th and Broadway and wends it way through the West End, eventually arriving at a church service in downtown Louisville. In the past, church services have been held at either Lampton Baptist or Bates Memorial Baptist, both old traditional black churches.

It isn't really a parade as the cars participating travel at a rate of about 25 to 30 miles per hour through intersections, blowing their horns and waving. And it is the waving which is important in this celebration. Folks along the route, young and old, through the residential neighborhoods on Chestnut, Muhammad Ali, and other West End streets, stand from their front porches and sometimes out into their yards (remember it is middle of January) waving and cheering as the parade proceeds. It is truthfully and literally moving. Most of the children, and perhaps many of the adults, only know what they have been told about Dr. King, indeed, as is the case with me. He was assasinated when I was seven. That he has been dead for nearly 40 years and still attracts the response he does from the sidewalks and front porches in a town with which he had little direct contact is a testament to the reason he has been afforded a holiday. Would or do others who lived and died in his era draw such attention? Does anyone know the birthday or the death-date of Bobby Kennedy, who died the same year? Very few people do - I can not say I know when he was born. I believe died on June 6.

Last month, when President Ford passed away on December 26th, I was reminded by a friend that another president in the 20th Century had also passed away on December 26th, and in my lifetime. Until that reminder, I had forgotten. The other president was Harry S. Truman, beloved in retirement, but not all that popular as a president. The fact that I had forgotten a president's death, but will participate in a celebration of a civil rights leader's life again tomorrow, as I have done now for several years, says something about why tomorrow is a federal holiday, for good or bad. You must see the faces of those people on the doorstoops and front porches, and you will understand too.