Today is the 21st of January and as Americans like to do, we associate this particular day with a famous man who helped our nation in a positive way. On this particular day we acknowledge one individual who has cut down economic status barriers and has helped society rid itself of a common enemy.
Hmmm…so it isn’t Batman.
Well then it must be someone who looked into the face of evil, laughed manically and followed up with the “jerking off” motion.
So it wasn’t Lance Armstrong either. Whew, I’m really glad about that too because Lance Armstrong, you see, it a complete douche. I could probably write an entire article about him featuring his douchey face, his douchey bicycle and his douchey prosthetic testicle that says: “I’m with douchebag <—-” but I won’t because I don’t want to give that douchey douche the satisfaction of being the sole discussion of one of my articles.
After intense research I realized that today, the 21st of January belongs to the late and great, leader of the great civil rates movement of the 60s, Martin Luther King Jr.
Yes, MLKJr is known throughout our great nation as the father of civil rights and married to the mother of civil rights, Rosa Parks. Probably. He once told us about a dream he had and how he wants everybody to be judged by what’s inside rather than the pigmentation of one’s skin. He eventually got shot by some racist, but his message echoes through the span of time and we celebrate those basic human rights that we all have regardless of skin color, ethnicity or ancestral heritages. In short, he was preaching basic common sense to a mass of people (whites) who were too stuck up for their own good and had a massive superiority complex.
Some know me to be an optimistic person, so I like to think that the human species has evolved to a point where racism isn’t really that big of an issue. Yes, we all know a few racists, but they tend to be older people who will soon die along with their completely screwed up views of the world and the people that inhabit it. My current generation seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel. I have yet to meet a single person from my generation who was genuinely racist (black or white). We as a generation have grown up in a world where it’s just isn’t a big deal. The closest I get to being racist would be making incredibly bad jokes just to get a laugh; and you know what? Nobody cares. We are secure enough with ourselves and our peers, where light hearted jokes don’t mean anything and only go deep enough to produce a chuckle because we are essentially laughing at the people who made racism such a big deal in a time when it was a big deal.
To be honest, racism doesn’t really exist on a day to day basis here in the modern world because we’ve matured enough to look beyond that. However, we are still coming up a little short. Homosexual relationships are a hot topic right now but we simply haven’t matured enough to accept that population yet. I’ve often referred to their struggle as the civil rights movement of our time and I think MLKJr’s message could work for this civil rights issue as well. But that is another story for anther article.
One may ask: “Why are you writing about MLKJr. Day, when racism isn’t an issue?” My answer is quite simple. Having graduated from Creighton University, we enjoyed a vast number of different perks. Free admission to basketball games, concert tickets, the familiarity of six figure loan documents…too many to name but having gone from Creighton to the University of Nebraska, there’s one perk I have never experienced…having MLKJr Day as an actual holiday.
Since the university is part of the State education system, MLKJr. day is proclaimed to be a government holiday and thus there are no classes today! Sure, Creighton may have a full week fall break and an Easter break but by God we get freaking MLKJr. Day off. Does this mean Creighton hates black people? Yes. That’s exactly what that means.
This being a Monday, that means that my economics class is therefore cancelled. I plan to spend my evening curled up on my couch reflecting on what MLKJr. would want me to do on his day. That’s right…I’ve going to have a Roots marathon.
Happy Martin Luther Kind Jr. Day All!
Martin Luther King Feature Picture: Source
