California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent ResolutionNo. 109


Introduced by Assembly Member Cooper

January 4, 2016


Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 109—Relative to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 109, as introduced, Cooper. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

This measure would proclaim that Monday, January 18, 2016, be observed as the official memorial of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth and his work in the Civil Rights Movement.

Fiscal committee: no.

P1    1WHEREAS, One hundred years after the Emancipation
2Proclamation, on August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
3and others organized hundreds of thousands of blacks and whites,
4Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, in a march to the
5Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC where Dr. King made his
6famous “I Have a Dream” speech announcing that the days of
7segregation in the United States were numbered; and

8WHEREAS, Monday, January 18, 2016, marks the 30th national
9celebration of the national holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
10and his fight for civil and human rights; and

11WHEREAS, On Friday, January 15, 2016, Dr. Martin Luther
12King, Jr. would have been 87 years of age; and

13WHEREAS, On April 10, 1970, California became the first
14state to pass legislation making Dr. King’s birthday a school
15holiday and, subsequently, a statewide holiday; and

P2    1WHEREAS, Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan)
2submitted the first legislation for a national Dr. Martin Luther
3King, Jr. holiday, which was signed into law by President Ronald
4Wilson Reagan, on November 2, 1983; and

5WHEREAS, January 20, 1986, marked the first observance of
6Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; and

7WHEREAS, Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement helped
8change public policy from segregation to integration, resulting in
9the repeal of the post-Reconstruction era state laws mandating
10racial segregation in the South known as the “Jim Crow Laws,”
11thereby leading to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the
12Voting Rights Act of 1965, and other antidiscrimination laws aimed
13at ending economic, legal, and social segregation in America; and

14WHEREAS, Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement helped
15change public policy from legal and socially acceptable
16discrimination and segregation to an open and accessible policy
17of racial integration leading to equal participation and access to
18primary and higher education, housing, employment, transportation,
19federal, state, and local governmental elections, and other aspects
20of public policy relating to human rights; and

21WHEREAS, These public policy changes at the national level
22influenced many changes in California that culminated in the
23passage of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Rumford Fair
24Housing Act, in open enrollment and access to higher education
25specifically with respect to the California State University and the
26University of California, and in employment and labor laws,
27transportation policy, election laws, and other aspects of public
28policy; and

29WHEREAS, The unfinished business of Dr. King and the Civil
30Rights Movement was and is the plight of the poor, the fight against
31war and for worldwide peace, and the struggle for a fair, equitable,
32and sensible economic system; and

33WHEREAS, Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement noted
34that a majority of Americans lived below the poverty line, and that
35the huge income gaps between rich and poor called for “changes
36in the structure of our society”; and

37WHEREAS, Dr. King, in the last months of his life, began
38organizing a Poor People’s Campaign to, among other things,
39assemble “a multiracial army of the poor that would descend on
40Washington--engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience at the
P3    1Capitol, if need be--until Congress enacted a poor people’s bill
2of rights”; and

3WHEREAS, All of the aforementioned concerns and more
4continue to be the quest of civil and human rights organizations
5in the great State of California, across America, and throughout
6the world; and

7WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought to change public
8policy from the “self-inflicted wound of segregation to the
9pluralistic diverse democracy” we continue to construct today; and

10WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights
11Movement serve as a model for principled leadership and
12forward-thinking, bipartisan public policy; now, therefore, be it

13Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
14thereof concurring,
That Monday, January 18, 2016, be observed
15as the official memorial of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth and
16his work in the Civil Rights Movement; and be it further

17Resolved, That this day, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the
18Civil Rights Movement be commemorated for their help in
19changing public policy from segregation to integration, for the
20betterment of this, the great State of California and these United
21States of America; and be it further

22Resolved, That the Legislature encourages all Americans to pay
23tribute to the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through
24participation in community service projects on Dr. Martin Luther
25King, Jr. Day; and be it further

26Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes the inherent value of
27community service and volunteerism in the creation of a civil
28society and as a means of nonviolent community progress
29consistent with the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and be
30it further

31Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes the benefits of the
32collaborative work by many organizations that promote, facilitate,
33and carry out needed service projects nationwide; and be it further

34Resolved, That the Legislature encourages its members and
35colleagues to urge their constituents to participate in community
36service projects; and be it further

37Resolved, That the Legislature acknowledges that, by serving
38one’s country, one’s community, and one’s neighbor, our nation
39makes progress in civility, equality, and unity consistent with the
P4    1values and life’s work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and be it
2further

3Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
4of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.



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