The Allure of Evil: Reflections on MLK Day 2011

So, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Martin Luther King Day just passed.

Well, it wasn't actually the twenty-fith anniversary everywhere in the U.S. Signed into law by Reagan in 1983, only twenty-seven states recognized the first instance of the federal holiday in 1986.

Arizona has the dubious distinction of being the forty-ninth state to recognize the holiday. In 1986, with his eyes on a presidential run, then Governor of Arizona, Bruce Babbit tried to force the holiday onto the books by executive order, which he signed on May 18th, 1986 in the pulpit of the First Institutional Baptist Church. His successor, Evan Mecham, rescinded the executive order upon being sworn in as Arizona's governor on January 5th, 1987.

And then the boycotts started. Stevie Wonder cancelled a concert in the state. Others followed. The years passed and the citizens and the legislature took turns finding ways to express their disapproval of the federal holiday. Then the NFL put its thumb on the scale: if a referendum held in 1990 didn't approve the holiday, the league announced plans to pull the Super Bowl scheduled in Phoenix for 1993. And sure enough, the referendum failed; the Super Bowl was moved to Pasadena; and Arizona lost as estimated $150M in revenue.

The message delivered in this form--revenue lost, jobs lost--helped to change the landscape and a 1992 initiative to recognize the holiday in Arizona passed. So, Martin Luther King Day, as a statewide federal holiday, celebrated its eighteenth anniversary this year in Arizona and the state got its Super Bowl in 1996.

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Blog entry continues here: The Allure of Evil.

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