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A letter in today’s Daily News addresses why we don’t really honor Martin Luther King because SEPTA has the audacity to run a weekday schedule:
I’ve never understood how we have a Martin Luther King Day, yet it still isn’t a holiday.
Dr. King has done more for us all than half the presidents we’ve had - or will have. But his day is not even a total national celebration.
They think that by giving the kids a day off from school and closing state and federal buildings and stopping mail from being delivered it’s good enough. Well, I’m here to say it isn’t!
I got up to go to work on that Monday morning because, unlike a real holiday when I’m actually off, I had to work. (No, I had the option of working, but what it really boils down to is if we are open, you are working.)
So I got on SEPTA and realized it was operating on a regular schedule, not a holiday one, which made it official that Jan. 15 was not a holiday, just Dr. King’s birthday. And it will forever be just that unless we stand up and do something.
There was a recent national day of grief for a president who died, but we can’t have a real national holiday for a man who gave his life to better the lives of all people in the world, not just black people, but white, pink, yellow and red?
We need to wake up and get our priorities straight because enough is enough.
Shakia Summers
Philadelphia
Yeah, I do think someone needs to get her priorities straight.
MLK Day is inadequate [Daily News]
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I agree with Ms. Summers to some extent. It’s not fair for some people (especially those in gov’t) to get the day off and for others not to (except in retail; they pretty much work on every holiday). But I also think the same for President’s Day.
If it’s a holiday, let’s make it mandatory that NOBODY goes to work!!!
SEPTA is only responding to people’s demands for transportation. On Holidays its only government employees that get the day off. So why should the rest of us suffer trying to get around on a Sunday schedule when we have to go to work? The author stated she had to go to work, was she mad at her employer who “forced” her to go to work? No, so why push the blame on SEPTA? Honey, think before you speak! This isn’t about racism, its the economy stupid!
For the record SEPTA operates a modified weekday schedule on holidays such as MLK and President’s Day. This means there are no school trips and less buses and trains during rush hours. People still go to work, shop and take recreational trips. All other transot agencies in the area also operated on a weekday schedule including New Jersey Transit, PATCO and DART in Delaware. Are they wrong too?
In all fairness SEPTA operated a “modified” weekday schedule on MLK Day. This means less buses and trains during rush hours and no school trips. New Jersey Transit, PATCO and DART in Delaware also operated a weekeday schedule. This also happens Veteran’s Day and President’s Day. Businesses, stores, museums, and recreational sites are still open so people need to get to them. If SEPTA had been on a Sunday schedule and you were late for work you would have blamed SEPTA for that too. Malls were open regular weekday hours. If you work at the mall and SEPTA was on a Sunday schedule some of the Sunday routes end at 6 or 7 on a Sunday. How would you have gotten home if you had to work until the mall closed at 9:30?
stupid holiday just another day for sales
this man needs a real honor not aday off not another casino day all he did was make racial tensions worse white is right
stupid holiday just another day for sales
this man needs a real honor not aday off not another casino day all he did was make racial tensions worse white is right
stupid holiday just another day for sales
this man needs a real honor not aday off not another casino day all he did was make racial tensions worse white is right
stupid holiday just another day for sales
this man needs a real honor not aday off not another casino day all he did was make racial tensions worse white is right
stupid holiday just another day for sales
this man needs a real honor not aday off not another casino day all he did was make racial tensions worse white is right