Gothamist: MLK Day

TwentyLou

Sun, 23 Jan 2005 17:05:20 -0500

In my humble opinion, I actually think its a GREAT idea to work and go to school on MLK Day. He preached on how we of different races can live and work with one another, so why not celebrate it by going to work, and not to be stereotypical but, shake the hand of the black co-worker, white co-worker or asian co-worker you know and say, "I'm glad we can work together. Isn't Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awesome!?

LantaMan

Sun, 16 Jan 2005 01:18:23 -0500

Maybe one should enquire to their future employer to whether they celebrate this holiday,and if not then you could always go find another job. I mean as long as people arent forced to observe I dont see a problem.

Michael

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:51:53 -0500

I don't have the day off but in fact all our clients DO have the day off. We're using the day for organizational meetings, etc. That is so depressing. Personally, being completely non-religious, I think it's annoying and insensitive that the whole country stops for a Christian holiday but it won't bother noticing a non-exclusionary holiday like MLK Day.

Bootsy

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:35:58 -0500

I work for an architect, which is not the kind of person who likes to give ANYONE a day off for ANYTHING, but here, it's just given off to everyone unquestioningly. Rawk on MLK!

Coretta Scott King

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:07:52 -0500

My company does not have MLK as a holiday, either. I was kind of p'oed when I found out after I got hired, but the way I see it is that MLK fought and died for me to be able to have a chance to work in corporate America, so either way, it's a testiment to his memory.

KeithS

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 13:31:29 -0500

I love the way my company handles this. We're given the day as a holiday, but if you'd rather come in on MLK day (and about 60% of our office does), you get a floating holiday you can take whenever you'd like. Thanks, employer!

alizinha

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:58:15 -0500

For those who do want to remember the man (and have the day off on Monday), I highly recommend the 19th Annual Brooklyn Tribute to MLK, Jr., at BAM. It's a free event and first-come, first-seated, so be sure to get there with enough time.

hijiki

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:50:01 -0500

i actually think about mlk on his holiday... it would be hard to avoid. yeah it feels superficial, but it's better than forgetting. inevitably, the media will air documentaries and interviews. i appreciate the holiday and usually learn something new about mlk each year. whatever that means about taking off work, i dunno.

Pezdro

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:41:24 -0500

Sadly alot of companies do this. This happened to me last year when I worked with a company called LiveTechnology. They basically did this to scale back on the number of holidays given to employees to maximize the time you have people in the office. They don't consider it to be a traditional holiday so they feel that they can take it away. It's a shame the way that alot of employers are treating employees recently.

S.D.

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:30:48 -0500

"either way, people won't remember him." Sad, but very true. That's why people don't want a Official Day of rememberance for 9/11. Many (Me included) are afraid it will trivialize the event.

Captain Midnight

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 12:14:14 -0500

Come on! Stop being greedy. Everybody already got two holidays in the last three weeks. Another one this soon is just plain ridiculous. No disrespect to Dr. King, but other "second-tier holidays" where many companies don't close have been around a lot longer, like Veteran's Day and Columbus Day. If we absolutely have to add a national holiday, let's do it in March, nicely spaced between New Year and Memorial Day. And while Tien is right about how people would commemorate the day (or actually wouldn't), that's nothing new. It's the same with almost every holiday. Nobody cares about labor on Labor Day. Few think about our war dead on Memorial Day. Christmas is about gifts, trees and carols, not Christ (and this from a non-religious person). Americans, sad to say, are a superficial lot.

tien

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:44:42 -0500

i think given the day off, most people wouldn't choose to remember mlk, but just take it as a day off. either way, people won't remember him.

S.D.

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:29:39 -0500

Well, I'm glad My job celebrates that day, but I've found that other companies won't if their clients don't. It's not that they are being disrepectful, they just don't want to lose a day for a client.

Donnie Jeter

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 10:46:42 -0500

I'm always surprised to hear that some companies don't take a day off on MLK day. As for me, the University I attend does in fact honor the day - to celebrate, I'm going to try to find a podcast of the I have a dream speach (how hipster is that?).