The reality that Dr. King is celebrated around the world speaks to the solidarity of his message of equality, where “the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” I am quite sure he intended as included in his statement, sons and daughters.
Portland - Every Jan. 20, (click here) we recognize the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His fight for racial equality and social justice changed the world as we know it.
Dr. King's legacy lives on through memorials, museums, and movies, but perhaps most commonly through the streets that bear his name. There are nearly 1,000 of them across the world.
Portland is no exception. In 1987, a group of community members organized to rename a street in Dr. King's name. But it was no easy task. Here's the story of how Union Avenue became Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
From Baltimore to Bologna, Senegal to Los Angeles, avenues, drives and boulevards all bear Dr. King's name. Each street helps to preserve his legacy, marking the ground of the very communities his ideas transformed.
Chicago was the first city to rename a street in Dr. King’s honor. In August 1968, South Park Way became Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Other cities soon followed.
The process of renaming a street doesn’t happen overnight. It can take years of committee meetings, coalition building and signature gathering before the sign posts change.
Nobody knows this better than Bernie Foster. In 1987, the longtime publisher of The Skanner newspaper had a vision for Portland: a prominent arterial throughfare in Dr. King's name that would be accessible from the major interstates and showcase the newly built Oregon Convention Center.
Foster needed help, so he organized community members and formed a committee. After much deliberation and feedback, the group found a street that met the criteria. They set their sights on Union Avenue....
I find it shameful that some states cannot bring themselves to celebrate
Dr. King's birthday without attaching another meaning to it. In my opinion, that is racism.
In Alabama: "Robert E. Lee/Martin Luther King Birthday".
In Arizona: "Martin Luther King Jr./Civil Rights Day".
In Arkansas: it was known as "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday and Robert E. Lee's Birthday" from 1985 to 2017. Legislation in March 2017 changed the name of the state holiday to "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday" and moved the commemoration of Lee to October.
In Idaho: "Martin Luther King Jr.–Idaho Human Rights Day".
In Mississippi: "Martin Luther King's and Robert E. Lee's Birthdays".
In New Hampshire: "Martin Luther King Jr. Civil Rights Day".
In Virginia: it was known as Lee–Jackson–King Day, combining King's birthday with the established Lee–Jackson Day. In 2000, Lee–Jackson Day was moved to the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday in its own right.
In Wyoming: it is known as "Martin Luther King Jr./Wyoming Equality Day". Liz Byrd, the first black woman in Wyoming legislature, introduced a bill in 1991 for Wyoming to recognize MLK day as a paid state holiday, however, she compromised on the name because her peers would not pass it otherwise.
Virginia has corrected the record, however, there are those that continue to hate and find the necessity of bringing weapons of violence as a message to a demonstration. This year those that hate will be stopped from carrying weapons by a governor that insists on peaceful protests.
On April 4th it will be 52 years since Dr. King's death and the issue of racism is still a problem, because, it is linked to politics. It is very wrong for racism to still be a dog whistle agenda item for the Republican Party.
