An American city renamed MLK Day as ‘Great American's Day’, and people are angry

Martin Luther King Jr. is an American hero.

The civil rights leader is such an important and inspirational figure in modern US history that the third Monday in January is now an American federal holiday (his birthday being January 15).

The city of Biloxi in Mississippi however appeared to have renamed the day. In a since deleted message from the city’s official Twitter, they announced:

Non-emergency municipal offices in Biloxi will be closed on Monday in observance of Great Americans Day.

People were NOT happy.

Some digging was done, and more evidence was found of the city listing the holiday as ‘Great American's Day’.

The city released a statement saying the name was legally amended in a 1985 ordinance, and Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich was in favour of them updating it to reflect the official federal name of the holiday, ‘Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’.

The name has since been traced back to a City Council on Dec. 23, 1985 to proclaim the third Monday of every January “to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as other great Americans who have made important contributions to the birth, growth and evolution of this country.”

Mayor Gilich added:

This city’s longstanding support of our annual MLK celebrations speaks volumes about our support for this holiday. In fact, we’ve always celebrated this day as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

HT The Guardian & Complex

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