For the past few years, I’ve dreamed small. My small dream has been to convince the legislature to amend a statute honoring a man who dreamed big.
Connecticut General Statute Section 1-4 designates the first Monday occurring on or after January 15th as “Martin Luther King Day.”
The Federal Holiday is the “Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.” U.S. Code Section 6103(a).
In a January 14, 2011 post I wrote: “in 2011, the Connecticut General Assembly should honor Martin Luther King Jr. by amending Conn. Gen. Sec. 1-4 to read “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.” I’ve written the same post for the past 2 years.
Turns out that post was read by at least a few people. Late last month, Rep. Matthew Lesser asked that I submit testimony on a bill to amend the statute to read “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.” I did.
Raised Bill 1209 lacks sex appeal. Its title: “AN ACT CONCERNING THE REVISOR’S TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO THE GENERAL STATUTES”. But don’t let the title fool you.
Section 2 of the Bill reads as follows:
In each year the first day of January (known as New Year’s Day), the fifteenth day of January of each year prior to 1986, and commencing on the twentieth day of January in 1986, the first Monday occurring on or after January fifteenth (known as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)…….
In blogging there’s always a challenge to generate content. I considered my MLK, Jr. post to be evergreen. In the sense, nothing would ever get done about it and every year I could pencil in virtually the same post urging the legislature to act. That said, I’m thrilled it looks like the statute is going to be amended. It’s hard to see a political fight over a bill called “AN ACT CONCERNING THE REVISOR’S TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO THE GENERAL STATUTES”.
But stay tuned, because I’ll probably be the only site covering what I’ve called Connecticut’s smallest problem.
But for now, there’s only one way for to end this post. On St. Patrick’s day, enjoy “Pride (In the Name of Love”)