Saturday, February 20, 2010
Martin Luther King
Utah State Senator Mark Madsen (R) doesn’t see anything wrong with his idea to honor John Browning, a pioneer in firearms manufacturing, on the same day celebrating Martin Luther King Jr., who was gunned down by an assassin. Madsen and his supporters say that without Browning, creator of the Browning, Colt and Winchester brands, King would never have been able to do his civil rights work, because “guns keep peace.”
The head of Utah’s NAACP chapter reacted angrily to the idea of changing the mid-January holiday to “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr./John M. Browning Day.” Jeannetta Williams said, “Here you have a man, Dr. King, who was assassinated—and then you’re going to put his name along with a person who was a gun manufacturer?”
Utah originally objected to honoring MLK day when it was first signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1983, preferring instead to call it “Human Rights Day.” The state did not change the name to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day until 2000.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Utah Lawmaker Wants MLK Day to Honor Gunmaker (by Daniel Tencer, Raw Story)
Dr. King to get a partner? (by Paul Rolly, Salt Lake Tribune)
Comments