Ep 772 No Fair Remembering MLK Jr. Day

The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal

Driftglass and Blue Gal

Politics, Midterms, News, News Commentary, Election, Presidential, Indivisible, Government, Progressive, Debate, Liberal, Campaign, Democrat, Resistance

4.8 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2024

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of "No Fair Remembering Stuff," we embark on a fascinating journey into the complex and evolving history of acceptance and resistance towards Martin Luther King Day as a state and national holiday. We remember the declaration of Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday in South Carolina and unravel the factors (really only one factor, ahem) that led it to become the last state to recognize the occasion as a paid holiday for all state employees. We also talk about Jesse Helm...

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You are listening to another no fair remembering stuff, the Tuesday edition of the Professional
0:04.7	Left Podcast, and available wherever you get your podcasts, and at our website, prolevpod.com,
0:11.5	where you can also contribute to this podcast.
0:14.0	There is a Patreon button at our website, or you can mail us a letter and or contribution
0:18.2	at The Professional Left Podcast, P.O. Box 9133, Springfield, Illinois, 62791.
0:26.2	And it's not safe for work. And today we're going to look back at what most of the country, especially most of the country under the age of 40,
0:53.8	accepts as a normal national holiday, which up until 1983 was only celebrated without federal recognition.
1:01.5	We are, of course, speaking of Christmas.
1:04.0	We are, of course, not speaking of Christmas, Dr. Glass.
1:07.2	We are speaking of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which since 1986 has been a federal holiday.
1:15.4	With all the federal offices and post office closings that we all associate with American federal holidays.
1:23.4	Yeah, but in that way, it is like Christmas because federal employees have a day off and post offices are closed, except like Martin Luther King Jr. Day, once upon a time, Blue Gal, Christmas was not a federal holiday.
1:37.4	In fact, in 1659, a law called the penalty for keeping Christmas, if you can believe it, was enacted under the Puritans, who else, rule in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1:49.2	And for the next 22 years, anyone found celebrating the holiday by failing to work, quote, feasting or in any other way, unquote, would be fined.
1:58.9	Yes, in 1659, Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans who had come to this country to escape religious tyranny in England,
2:07.3	use the power of the government to institute a little religious tyranny of their own.
2:11.1	Because who doesn't love a little religious tyranny, exactly.
2:13.9	Especially when you're in charge.
2:14.9	When you're in charge, tyranny is an altogether wonderful thing.
2:17.9	This is from WBUR Public Radio in Boston.
2:22.0	Quote, the Puritans were very concerned with a very scripturally based form of worship.
2:27.1	There's not scriptural evidence for Jesus Christ's birth on December 25th.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Driftglass and Blue Gal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Driftglass and Blue Gal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.