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Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Arkansas To Split Its Holidays For Martin Luther King Jr. And Robert E. Lee

With the stroke of a pen on Monday, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is set to separate a holiday that has for decades celebrated both Martin Luther King Jr. and Gen. Robert E. Lee in the state.

Under the bill that Hutchinson says he'll sign into law, King will have the third Monday of January entirely to himself, as dictated by federal law; Lee will now be commemorated in a state holiday on the second Saturday of October.
If the civil rights icon and Confederate general would seem to make for rather odd bedfellows, the state's Legislature has come to agree. Member station KUAR reportsthat by a 66-11 vote Friday — with 18 members not voting and five voting present — the Arkansas House of Representatives passed a bill to "eliminate the dual status of the joint holiday," and to "specify the teaching of content related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in conjunction with the corresponding holiday." The Senate had already approved the change.

In a statement, Hutchinson commended the passage of the bill, which was co-sponsored by state Sen. David Wallace and state Rep. Grant Hodges, both Republicans. According to KUAR, the governor thanked lawmakers for the bipartisan effort:

"The support for a separate holiday to recognize Martin Luther King far exceeded my expectations and speaks well of the General Assembly and our state. This bill was one of my priorities, and I was honored to testify for it in both Chambers. I look forward to having a signing ceremony that emphasizes the historic dynamic of this new day."

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why not a week in mlk week ?

Anonymous said...

Does that make October more likely to be White History Month?

Anonymous said...

Fun fact, Lee was actually opposed to the confederacy.

Anonymous said...

Why celebrate a guy that cheated on his wife, fathered illegitimate kids all over the country, Pretended to be a minister but with no congregation, Plagiarized his Doctorate, frequently associated with known criminals on the FBI watch list, and was also himself on that list. Frequented Hookers, and only said that change can be made without violence???

Anonymous said...

Provocation just for provocations sake is a liberal tactic. Conservatives shouldn't sink to their level.

Anonymous said...

Same reason we celebrate presidents day

Anonymous said...

The only difference here is only one of these men was possibly the most loved and honored man in the history of the United States. Guess who?

Wrong! Not MLK, it was the Scholar and the Gentleman, General Robert E. Lee.

It was the Left who changed this over the years. MLK was a womanizer and a cheater. The night he was shot he had cheated on his wife in a hotel room with a woman who went on to become a state senator. He was on the most wanted watch by the FBI and many police departments and the night he was shot he was being staked out and watched by the FBI and local police departments. Imagine that, a criminal gets his own holiday and a Noble American and American soldier gets brushed aside by indoctrinated Americans who are trained to think this Confederate General who was love by both the North and South is a bad guy and a Traitor. General Lee went on to teach and have a college named in his honor.