I wrote this on another forum about it: "It's one thing to look back and reflect on the impact of a historical person. It's quite another to obsess upon him."
In another 20 or 30 years, there will probably not be a federal Martin Luther King holiday. Those who have been exploiting King's memory for their own gain have just about had their run. It's already happened to the "women's liberation" movement and it's starting to happen to those who have been playing the race card way too many times. Neither ideologies have a new generation that is willing to carry on with the same vigor as the old. When enough see what wrong has been done in the name of Martin Luther King by many of his followers, they will begin to demand that this be a holiday at taxpayer expense no more.
I'll probably get jumped-flunky for saying this, but if Martin Luther King had not been assassinated, he would not be held up as the object of veneration that he has become. He would have retired and eventually passed on relatively quietly. Martyrdom changed that, just as it bestowed upon John Kennedy some mystical quality that he otherwise would never have had. One can only imagine what holidays would be on our calendars had Jane Fonda or Gloria Steinem been gunned down back in the day...
An interesting take that is similar to yours and penned by an African American is the MLK Day episode of Boondocks.