Honoring Dr. King

TODAY would have marked the 50th birthday of one of this country's greatest humanitarians, the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King served this country in a way that is evident in every facet of American life from restaurants to stores, to schools and even the United States' ambassadorial seat in the United Nations. He was a man who dearly loved his country and cared for its people. It is a sad and disgraceful thought that this country refuses officially to remember him.

People have talked about making January 15th a national holiday for nearly a decade now, but regrettably the discussion has continued even longer in his home state of Georgia. His widow, Coretta Scott King, in 1971 asked a Georgia governor to declare her husband's birthday a state holiday. Governor Jimmy Carter refused, saying the Federal Government should take the lead. President Jimmy Carter, who has held the nation's highest office for almost two years, yesterday received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Nonviolent Peace Prize from Mrs. King. Seventeen year veteran Senator Edward M. Kennedy '54 (D-Mass.), told a group gathered for the birthday observance in Atlanta that as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he would do everything in his power to make King's birthday a full legal holiday "in every city, town and village in this country."

Twelve states have already taken steps to name January 15th a holiday. In a half-hearted appeal, South Carolina offered its residents the unique option of honoring either King on January 15th, Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general on January 19th or Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederacy, on June 3rd. And Tennesseans have even more important things on their minds as they consider January 8th a state holiday in honor of the late rock and roll king Elvis Presley.

The promise of Senator Kennedy to finally do something and President Carter's plea for human rights, are admirable tokens of appreciation but to rest on their words is not good enough. As King once said, "The virtue of patience will become a vice if it accepts so leisurely an approach to social change." Let us not wait until another King birthday has passed.