Bill Text: CA SCR7 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: observance.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-04-11 - Referred to Com. on RLS. [SCR7 Detail]
Download: California-2013-SCR7-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 7 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Wright
(Principal coauthor: Senator Price)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bradford, Brown, Hall, Holden,
Jones-Sawyer, Mitchell, and Weber)
JANUARY 9, 2013
Relative to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 7, as introduced, Wright. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:
observance.
This measure would designate that January 21, 2013, be observed as
the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
birth, and commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the Work of
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in changing
public policy in California and in the United States of America.
This measure would also recognize the anniversaries of the
Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington in connection
with the advancement of civil rights.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, This year, 2013, marks the anniversary of two important
anniversaries in the history of African Americans in the United
States, the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation in
1863 and the 150th Anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963;
and
WHEREAS, The Emancipation Proclamation, a wartime measure issued
by President Abraham Lincoln, freed relatively few slaves, but it
fueled the fire of the enslaved to strike for their freedom, often by
enlisting in the Union Army, in an effort to dismantle the "peculiar
institution" of slavery; and
WHEREAS, One hundred years after the Emancipation Proclamation, on
August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others organized
hundreds of thousands of blacks and whites, Jews and gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics, in a march to the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington D.C. where Dr. King made his famous "I Have a Dream"
speech announcing that the days of segregation in the United States
were numbered; and
WHEREAS, Monday, January 21, 2013, marks the 27th National
Celebration of the National Holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and his fight for civil and human rights; and
WHEREAS, On Tuesday, January 15, 2013, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
would have been 84 years of age; and
WHEREAS, On April 10, 1970, California became the first state to
pass legislation making Dr. King's birthday a school holiday and,
subsequently, a statewide holiday; and
WHEREAS, Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) submitted the
first legislation for a national Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday,
which was signed into law by President Ronald Wilson Reagan, on
November 2, 1983; and
WHEREAS, January 20, 1986, marked the first observance of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement helped change
public policy from segregation to integration, resulting in the
repeal of the post-Reconstruction era state laws mandating racial
segregation in the South known as the "Jim Crow Laws," thereby
leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, and other antidiscrimination laws aimed at ending
economic, legal, and social segregation in America; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement helped change
public policy from legal and socially acceptable discrimination and
segregation to an open and accessible policy of racial integration
leading to equal participation and access to primary and higher
education, housing, employment, transportation, federal, state, and
local governmental elections, and other aspects of public policy
relating to human rights; and
WHEREAS, These public policy changes at the national level
influenced many changes in California that culminated in the passage
of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Rumford Fair Housing Act, in
open enrollment and access to higher education specifically with
respect to the California State University and the University of
California, and in employment and labor laws, transportation policy,
election laws, and other aspects of public policy; and
WHEREAS, The unfinished business of Dr. King and the Civil Rights
Movement was and is the plight of the poor, the fight against war and
for worldwide peace, and the struggle for a fair, equitable, and
sensible economic system; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement noted that a
majority of Americans lived below the poverty line, and that the huge
income gaps between rich and poor called for "changes in the
structure of our society"; and
WHEREAS, Dr. King, in the last months of his life, began
organizing a Poor People's Campaign to, among other things, assemble
"a multiracial army of the poor that would descend on
Washington--engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol,
if need be--until Congress enacted a poor people's bill of rights";
and
WHEREAS, All of the aforementioned concerns and more continue to
be the quest of civil and human rights organizations in the great
State of California, across America, and throughout the world; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought to change public
policy from the "self-inflicted wound of segregation to the
pluralistic diverse democracy" we continue to construct today; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement
serve as a model for principled leadership and forward-thinking,
bipartisan public policy; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That Monday, January 21, 2013, be observed as the
official memorial of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth and his
work in the Civil Rights Movement; and be it further
Resolved, That this day, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil
Rights Movement be commemorated for their help in changing public
policy from segregation to integration, for the betterment of this,
the great State of California and these United States of America; and
be it further
Resolved, That the California Legislature encourages all Americans
to pay tribute to the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
through participation in community service projects on Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day; and be it further
Resolved, That the California Legislature recognizes the inherent
value of community service and volunteerism in the creation of a
civil society and as a means of nonviolent community progress
consistent with the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and be it
further
Resolved, That the California Legislature recognizes the benefits
of the collaborative work by many organizations that promote,
facilitate, and carry out needed service projects nationwide; and be
it further
Resolved, That the California Legislature encourages its members
and colleagues to urge their constituents to participate in community
service projects; and be it further
Resolved, That the California Legislature acknowledges that, by
serving one's country, one's community, and one's neighbor, our
nation makes progress in civility, equality, and unity consistent
with the values and life's work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and
be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit a copy of this
resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
