How many Americans, black or white, do you think will stop to think about Dr. King on January 20? They'll take the day off from work or school and satisfy whatever personal desire floats through their mind. The holiday is a political bone that our fearless leaders in Washington threw the blacks to give them a feeling of importance, nothing more.
The blacks can have MLK Day, but I want George Washington Day, Theodore Roosevelt Day, Neil Armstrong Day (first man to step onto the lunar surface), Abraham Lincoln Day (the blacks should clamor for this one), George Patton Day, Robert E. Lee Day, Ulysses S. Grant Day, Albert Einstein Day, Ronald Reagan Day, Orville and Wilbur Wright Day, Alexander Graham Bell Day, Thomas Jefferson Day, and the list goes on and on and on and on and on.
My conclusion is that white Americans don't need to commemorate its heroes, because if we took a day for every worthy candidate, we'd never get any work done. We also don't need to change our group's label every generation, i.e. Negro to Black to African American. When blacks get tired of shoving their fists in the air and reminding us all of their skin color, then maybe we'll be able to get along.
The man was a giant in that he recognized, as few ever have except maybe Lincoln, the universality of the ideals that are imbodied in our founding documents and the importance of living up to those AMERCIAN values for the benefit all mankind.
He also advocated peaceful change.....a critical factor in maintaining our constitutional order.