MLK Day of Service
The United Way of Greater High Point is encouraging people to participate in an MLK Day of Service Jan. 15.
"Please join us as we strive to make the Dr. King Holiday 'A Day ON, not a Day OFF,' " the organization says.
The UW Web site adds this quote by the late Coretta Scott King:
"The greatest birthday gift my husband could receive is if people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds celebrated the holiday by performing individual acts of kindness through service to others."
If the MLK Day of Service takes hold in High Point, it will do more to honor King than the naming of a street in his memory.
For years, the city's refusal to do that has been a sore point for leaders in the black community. It even made the list of "intolerable racism" complaints.
I don't see that. This is a same city that declares King's birthday a municipal holiday and sponsors official celebrations, putting King in a category above all other Americans.
Besides, naming a street for someone feeds no one, clothes no one, shelters no one, improves no one's circumstances in any way.
If the MLK Day of Service does any of those things, it will be a truly meaningful tribute.
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