Montana FINALLY Approves Martin Luther King Jr. Day:
48 States Down, 2 To Go
M.L.K., Jr. Birthday, 1991
First Publication © Feb. 20, 1991, In These Times
All Other Rights © 1991 Paul Thomas Richards and
Dispatches from the Wildlands®
HELENA, MONTANA–Another bastion has fallen. After years of struggle, Montana—home to “Indian Shoots,” ever-growing paramilitary white supremacist groups, and a U.S. congressman who publicly threatens Native Americans—has finally acknowledged the nation’s most prominent civil rights leader.
Montana now joins 47 other states that observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday since 1986. This leaves only two states, Arizona and New Hampshire that fail to honor the slain black activist. A third state, North Dakota, commemorates Dr. King’s birthday with an unpaid holiday.
After Arizona voted in November against recognition of Dr. King, the National Football League showed its disgust by relocating the 1993 Super Bowl, originally schedule for the Phoenix/Tempe area. The resulting controversy and national interest clearly helped Montana’s legislation.
“I think the holiday issue is bigger than we are.”
“Most legislators are beginning to understand the issue goes beyond Montana,” said the bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Harry Fritz, who first proposed the measure in 1987. “I think the holiday issue is bigger than we are.”
King holiday supporters held church services, public rallies, school programs, petition campaigns, and marches throughout the state and testified en masse at a Joint House/Senate legislative hearing held, appropriately enough, on January 21.
“This bill does not only benefit black people,” said Rev. Phillip Caldwell, chairman of the Great Falls N.A.A.C.P., at the hearing. “Dr. King represented all Americans, all races, all backgrounds, all political persuasions.”
Native Americans, who comprise Montana’s largest minority—6 percent of the state’s total population—pushed hard for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, even after opponents offered a subterfuge “Chief Joseph Holiday.”
“Martin Luther King was a Communist.”
Republican Sen. Jerry Noble sponsored the alternative plan to designate the third Monday in January as “Chief Joseph Day,” because “Martin Luther King was a Communist.” Said Noble, “I selected Chief Joseph because his name is probably better known than a lot of other Indian chiefs. If Montana had a King holiday, I would never close Jerry Noble Tires,” referring to his Great Falls business.
Caldwell said it was “ludicrous” for Noble, a man with “no record at all in speaking up for ethnic groups or civil rights” to suddenly be concerned about Native Americans.
Democratic Sen. Bill Yellowtail, the senate’s only Native American, also questioned Noble’s motives. If legislators sincerely wished to respect Indians, Yellowtail said, they should convert the second Monday in October from “Columbus Day” to “Native American Day,” as was recently done in South Dakota.
Democratic Rep. Angela Russell, a member of the Crow Indian Tribe, said Montana’s embrace of Martin Luther King Jr. Day would “send a message to the nation that we will not tolerate racism.”
“There’s less than 800 colored people in Montana. We have denied the colored people, Negroes in Montana, nothing that I know of.”
Opponents of memorializing Dr. King denied the severity of Montana’s racial problems. “There’s less than 800 colored people in Montana,” said Republican Sen. Jim Burnett. “We have denied the colored people, Negroes in Montana, nothing that I know of.”
But, according the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, the number of hate crimes in the region rose from 265 to 320 in the past year—an increase of 21 percent.
Bob Hughes, a U.S. Justice Department official who released the figures in Spokane, Washington, said the survey represented less than half of the incidents that actually occur.
The Montana Human Rights Network reported that local government officials who publicly oppose white supremacists have received threats in Helena, Bozeman, Thompson Falls, and Billings.
“White” Montana Attracts Aryan Nation, Aryan Federation, White Separatist Alliance, League of Pace Amendment Advocates, and Christian Identity Movement
In their campaign, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day proponents stressed the need to challenge the Aryan Nation, Aryan Federation, White Separatist Alliance, League of Pace Amendment Advocates, the Christian Identity Movement, and other white supremacists attracted by Montana’s predominantly white population.
White Supremacists Sponsor an “Indian Shoot” in Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation
Native Americans reported that dissatisfaction with Indian administration of treaty-guaranteed hunting, fishing, and water rights has led some whites to advertise an “Indian Shoot” in northwestern Montana’s Flathead Indian Reservation.
And, in the national political arena, U.S. Rep. Ron Marlenee, Montana’s Republican eastern district congressman, has directly appealed for white supremacists’ votes by condemning “militant” Indian tribes and by threatening to “jerk the purse strings very, very hard and very, very quickly,” if Montana’s Indian tribes continue their “abuse.”
Montana doesn’t need another winter holiday, “when there’s nothing to do but shovel snow.”
During House debate on honoring Dr. King, Republican Rep. Budd Gould said, “The only reason to vote for this bill is so we can go to bed tonight and say to ourselves, ‘we’re not racists, we’re not bigots.’ We can salve our consciences by saying we voted for the Martin Luther King Holiday.” Montana doesn’t need another winter holiday, Gould continued, “when there’s nothing to do but shovel snow.”
In addition to calling Dr. King a Communist; opponents labeled King an adulterer, cheater, liar, and thief. “There are too many unanswered questions as to what Martin Luther King really did stand for,” said Republican Rep. Robert Clark, who added that King “had a relationship with a lot of people that advocated overthrow of our government. I think Dr. King may have been a pawn.”
But the bitterness of the attacks on Dr. King failed to offset a year of organization by dozens of religious, tribal, and human rights organizations. Supportive letters and calls combined with increasingly unnerving national news coverage to generate surprising margins of victory: 39-11 in the Senate and 64-36 in the House. The measure was signed into law February 8.
“I held my nose and voted ‘yes’.”
Republican Sen. Dave Rye said “I held my nose and voted ‘yes’,” due to constituents’ support for the holiday. Democratic Rep. Jane DeBruycker said she was deluged by messages from her district after she voted against Martin Luther King Jr. Day in committee. She switched her vote the next day, explaining, “I’m their voice.”
First Publication © Feb. 20, 1991, In These Times
All Other Rights © 1991 Paul Thomas Richards and
Dispatches from the Wildlands® © 1991
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REV. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., ON BEING LABELED AN EXTREMIST
“So I have not said to my people: ‘Get rid of your discontent.’
“Rather, I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channeled into the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. And, now, this approach is being termed extremist.
“But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued t think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label.”
“Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” April 16, 1963
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Read More Concerning Rights and Liberty for All at:
MLK Jr. B-Day 1989: EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL SPECIES! Earth First! Extends MLK’S Dream.
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