By Evin Horwitz
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (click here) had already been a holiday for nearly a decade when it was reconsecrated as a “Day of Service” in 1994.
Today, many treat the holiday as a “day on,” rather than a day off, an opportunity to commemorate Dr. King’s legacy through volunteerism. That’s how the White House now chooses to mark the day: last year the First Family and Vice President Joe Biden volunteered at DC soup kitchens....
...The third Monday of January was set aside in 1986 to commemorate King’s birthday and his contributions to American history.
Then in 1994, Representatives John Lewis and Harris Wofford — both veterans of the Civil Rights movement and former friends of Dr. King — introduced a bill to turn MLK day into a “day of action, not apathy.” It was a way, as Wofford put it, to “remember Martin the way he would have liked.”...
