MLKJ Day Snow Day

Lucky me (and you), this is the start of an annual tradition - The Annual Freakout Over a Perceived Slight to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

As you may recall, last year's broughaha was over the lunch menu that a school had for the day (MLK Jr. lunch menu). This year, it's about using the day as a snow makeup day, the first example I can give is for Charlotte (Charlotte/Mecklinburg MLKJ Day makeup day controversy).

As you may know, for the school year to count as having educated children, a minimum number of days are required. Hence the need for snow makeup days. They don't have to be full days, the kids don't have to learn anything, they just have to be in school. Southern areas have already been hit pretty hard with snow days, and are going to be scrambling to fit in the makeup days they need, MLKJ day is unfortunately positioned to be easily used.

Now, is going to school on a day intended to honor the man an insult to him? We can ask him, he's dead. If he weren't dead, we could ask him, but there probably wouldn't be a day for him, so it wouldn't matter. Anyway, let's look at the man's life, causes, and words to see if we can get a hint.

“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and consciencious stupidity.”

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."

"We must use time creatively."

So, I think I'm safe in saying that this man, who earned a Ph.D., believed in educating everyone to produce sensible people who can behave intelligently. What would be the most offensive way to honor his memory? Going to school and learning something, or spending the day in idleness?

MLK Jr. Menu

So, now there are people upset that the Denver public schools are going to serve fried chicken and collard greens in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

The knee-jerk reaction is that these are sterotyped southern black dishes, and making a caricature of the man. Well, maybe. My question is, did he actually like them? If he did, then it's perfectly reasonable to serve them. A little research on the Google has turned up this information:

From Joy Bennett Kinnon, Ebony, 2003
"I'm fortunate because some of my colleagues actually knew him as a young man and worked closely with him until his death. They tell me that King as a young man loved to have a good time. He loved soul food: red beans and rice, greens and ham hocks and pigs' feet. He also loved to dance."

A few different sources state that either his favorite dessert, or his favorite food of all was pecan pie:
Pecan Pie recipe in his honor
His favorite food was pecan pie
More about food

Shocking, isn't it, that a man who grew up in the south showed preference to traditional (or stereotypical, or caricatured) southern dishes. If the school served baloney sandwiches on Wonder bread with mayonnaise on MLKJ day, I'm sure someone would see that as a deliberate attempt to insult him memory by serving the most caricatured "White" meal they could come up with. If the man liked it, then by all means honor his memory by eating the food of his culture and thinking of him. What happened to embracing diversity?

The only problem I see is that fried chicken is not named as a particular favorite of his, so I would suggest that they serve pigs' feet and greens instead. And don't forget the pecan pie.