Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday is both a federal and a state holiday.
But in Mississippi, it is also a day honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee;. Mississippi and Alabama are the only states that still officially honors Lee on the shared holiday.
State Rep. Kabir Karriem (D-Columbus) says he will again offer legislation this session to make MLK Day a standalone holiday.
“This juxtaposition of two figures who stand at opposite ends of the spectrum of American history and values is not only incongruous but also deeply disrespectful to the legacy of Dr. King and all that he stood for,” he said in a statement.
After a national holiday was established in the 1980s to honor King, numerous Southern states combined a day for King and Lee. Mississippi lawmakers viewed it as a compromise to combine a holiday for both.
In 2022, Louisiana repealed both the holiday for Lee and for Confederate Memorial Day.
Mississippi still recognizes Confederate Memorial Day in April, and the holiday anchors Confederate Heritage Month, which the last five governors have signed annually since 1993.
In addition, Mississippi has clung to other Confederate imagery. It remains the only state to displays two statues of Confederates - Jefferson Davis and James Zachariah George - in the U.S. Capitol.
In 1864, Congress authorized each state to donate and display two statues at the Capitol of citizens “illustrious for their historic renown or for distinguished civic or military services.”
Davis was a slaveowner and president of the Confederacy. George was a lead architect of the 1890 Mississippi Constitution that stripped voting rights from nearly 150,000 Black Mississippians. Neither man was born in Mississippi.
The Mississippi statues were placed in 1931 after they were approved by the state Legislature in 1924.
The state Legislature can vote to replace the monuments. (Mississippi Today 01/15/24) In Mississippi, MLK Day is also Robert E. Lee Day. This lawmaker wants to change that. - Mississippi Today
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