EDIT: Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

To many students at Boston University, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was a day off to catch up on sleep, recover from the weekend and generally relax for the week ahead. Not many individuals appeared to take it as time to reflect on civil rights in America, both past and present. Instead, capitalizing on the opportunity to draw consumers out of their homes, many retailers decided to profit off of the long weekend by reducing their prices. Inevitably, this move was not met with a positive reaction. As one Twitter user, quoted in a CBS News article on Monday said, “Shout out to The Gap who is having an MLK sale. Nothing honors him more than 30 percent off some khakis.” Perhaps the most abysmal event that classified itself as one of remembrance was a “Freedom 2 Twerk” party in Michigan. The flyer had King’s face placed on a body wearing a gold chain. Consequently, the site hosting the party claimed to terminate its contract with the promoters in question. Cognac brand Hennessy did not do much better, marketing drink recipes that “MLK Jr. would be proud of.” Names for the drinks in question included the “Introspective Moment” and the “Privateer.”

Despite poorly executed attempts to commercialize a holiday that should be devoted to King’s legacy, there were some positive acts of kindness and service to mark the day of remembrance. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed interpreted King’s message to apply to school children, and today, we should all remember the importance of education to future generations. Newly elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said that King’s message reminds us that rectifying income inequality cannot be placed on the back burner of political priorities. A particularly poignant manifestation of King’s legacy was,  “a buyback program organized by the Atlanta branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the hopes of getting 1,000 weapons off the city’s streets,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

As with most events in history, as years continue to pass, our collective memory begins to fade regarding the intensity of emotion and immediacy of effect a movement or a moment used to hold. Unfortunately, as the pivotal moments of King’s life are celebrated over time, the message has grown muddled. Through middle school and high school, MLK Day is marked with an assembly and a couple of guest speakers. Regrettably, words alone, no matter how eloquent, cannot erase attitudes on race and equality in America that persist to this day. At BU, where King is especially recognized for calling this campus his alma mater, could there be more done to not only remember King, but also focus on how his message has endured in today’s society?

An important distinction to note is that King did not just fight for equal rights for one race. The repeal of the Jim Crow Laws, the March on Washington, his concern for sanitation strikes and income equality up until his dying day affected every minority that ever felt marginalized by society. In addition, King was part of a time that conceived the peaceful protest. Consequently, if the celebration of MLK Day recognized this diversity in King’s message, it could reinvigorate the relevance of what he stood for. Our generation is not characterized by many leaders who stand up for a cause, and despite the vast array of social issues facing America, ours is not an era of protest, at least, not protests which extend beyond Twitter and Facebook feeds.

According to the Washington Post, on April 4, 1968, King was preparing his sermon, “Why America May go to Hell.” At this point in his life, he was tired, had shifted his focus to wider societal issues and wanted to dig deeper into inequality in America. As a New York Times op-ed from 2011 described, “King did not think that America ought to go to hell, but rather that it might go to hell owing to its economic injustice, cultural decay and political paralysis.” Arguably, even decades after King’s death, the underlying tensions prompting a need for reinvigoration and restructuring of our priorities is equally strong today.

Herman Melville once wrote, “Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges; hence the conclusion of such a narration is apt to be less finished than an architectural finial.” King did not “fix” America with his rhetoric or his movement. He jumpstarted a long and arduous process toward freedom and equality that we should continue to be mindful of to this day. This holiday is not strictly a celebration or a critique of King the individual, for as humans we all have our shortcomings. Instead, it is and should be an annual reminder that no matter how many years pass, his legacy will be determined by how those present and future choose to champion his ideals in the modern day.