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On Monday, January 20th, President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office, and he will be the third president whose inauguration falls on the same day as MLK Day.

Having been born in the early 2000s, I have never considered Martin Luther King Jr.’s immense impact on America as anything other than fact. 

As of 2023, 81% of Americans say that MLK “has had a positive impact on the United States.” This number shows a significant improvement from the 63% of Americans who viewed him unfavorably in August of 1966, about three years after his “I Have a Dream” speech. 

In my K-12 education, I sat through many lessons concerning the man and his legacy, and these tended to occur up to and around the holiday that memorializes him. I listened to his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, read his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and learned about Selma. 

What I didn’t learn about was the contentious history of MLK Day. 

President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to recognize MLK’s birthday as a national holiday in 1983, but giving Regan credit for the federal holiday would be turning a blind eye to some important details.

In 1964, Reagan came out against both the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. 

When he became president, he was not eager to sign the holiday into law. Initially, Reagan rejected the idea on the grounds that it would be expensive but finally pivoted when it benefited him politically.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (Jimmy Woo/Unsplash)

While I think there is something in that this year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be celebrated on Inauguration Day, I am unsure if I can add anything new to this conversation.

I could bring up the fact that President-elect Trump previously claimed that the crowd he gathered on Jan. 6 was larger than MLK’s during his “I Have a Dream Speech. I could attempt to wax poetic about the Voting Rights Act and the significance of these two events aligning, but I am unsure if I can move beyond a general feeling of incorrectness. 

I do think, however, I can make something out of the fact that two states, Alabama and Mississippi, will not only memorialize MLK on the day that Trump is sworn in, but they will also recognize Robert E. Lee. 

I can make something out of the fact that Florida will have its own holiday in honor of General Lee on Jan. 19, one day before MLK and Inauguration Day. 

While he opposed bills that would remove Confederate-based holidays from Florida calendars and remove protections for Confederate flags, Florida Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, said, “I always have a bit of pain in my heart when I realize people don’t want to respect each other’s history. The good, the bad, and the ugly.”

I think the something that bothers me in all these instances is the redefinition of history. The American urge to strip our nation of its curves and contours to have our past fit whatever suits us at the moment. 

In doing this, someone can feel comfortable posting an MLK quote that, on its surface, advocates for a type of color-blind social justice or nonviolent resistance. 

However, they might not feel as comfortable posting an MLK quote like:

“I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?… It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.”

I cannot say that President Trump’s flippant air while discussing MLK and his legacy is unique when a large portion of Americans do just the same. 

Maybe it is not as direct a form of disrespect, but a Robert E. Lee holiday can occur either on or around one for MLK and those who keep the law in place try to act like it has nothing to do with race or Lost Cause ideology. 

People can post cherry-picked quotes that make them feel like they are taking a stand against racism and try to act like they would care to say anything if it was not for a federally recognized day. 

Until we as Americans can truly examine how we memorialize—or fail to properly memorialize—MLK, I do not think we can say anything about Trump being inaugurated on the day that honors him.

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