With almost 57 years of mourning Martin Luther King Jr and 42 years of celebrating his impact, Chelsea High School is one of the many schools with Martin Luther King Jr. day off. But not much commemoration takes place away from the classroom. Students now try to carefully consider his legacy and the history behind Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
“Martin Luther King Day is a day that we can recognize the sacrifices that Martin Luther King made to fight for the freedom of people who were oppressed,” junior Brenna Taylor said.
CHS students all agree that MLK deserves a little more piece of mind than a longer break. But senior Eric Cameron reflects on the real reason it’s better to have every third Monday of January off.
“It’s a good time to reflect. So I think in many important days in our history, we get time to reflect on them, and I think it’s better used at home rather than at school, doing all this stuff,” Cameron said.
King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 and his work on the grassroots campaign throughout the 60s proved to be a big turning point for the rights of people of color. The Grassroots campaign was placed in many different districts around America and pushed people to stay informed. King spoke up and became a leader for civil rights activists and victims alike. King even got arrested 30 times all in the name of fighting equal rights.
“Martin Luther King, Jr was a very substantial figure in the movement for rights for black people, in order to establish the right to vote and the right to an education, and he was able to lead a lot of people in peaceful protests in order to secure these rights,” Taylor said.
In 1994 the King Holiday and Service Act was signed into law, making it a national service holiday. However, this isn’t a very widely acknowledged day of service. Several CHS staff members have admitted to not doing anything special on MLK day. When students were asked how they felt about a day of service, they had a positive perspective.
“I feel like that would be good, and that would honor him better than what we do now,” Taylor said.
In the spirit of helping the community and providing service, students want to bring more appreciation to Martin Luther King Jr and the holiday surrounding him.
“I feel like during school, if we have history classes we can focus more on what he did and making sure that everybody knows the importance of his actions,” Taylor said.
