By JULIE HOWARD
Julie@newsroom.byu.edu
Fourteen years after controversial legislation named the third Monday in January 'Utah Human Rights Day,' a Utah senator is proposing legislation to officially recognize the federal holiday as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Under a bill proposed by Utah Sen. Pete Suazo for the 2000 legislative session, the official name of the holiday would change to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to recognize the historic civil rights leader.
Many Utah residents may be unaware that the state does not officially recognize the holiday by King's name, said Forrest Crawford, co-founder and former chair of the Utah Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Commission.
He said that although there was heavy controversy in 1986 over the name of the holiday, a majority of Utah citizens today still refer to the holiday as Martin Luther King Day.
Crawford, who is also an associate professor of teacher education at Weber State University, said the original senate bill that proposed the holiday as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, went through a compromise.
The bill that passed named the holiday 'Human Rights Day.'
'We were faced with not passing a bill at all, or honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. with a holiday called Human Rights Day,' he said.
Although many people were in favor of having a Utah holiday for human rights, some were uncomfortable with using King's name, Crawford said.
'Some of the discussion said that there were other men and women equally involved with civil rights at the time, and so Dr. King should not be singled out for recognition,' he said.
In 1986, some legislators were also uncomfortable with Dr. King as a person, because of King's alleged communist affiliation and his views on Vietnam, Crawford added.
'They felt that (King's) name was not worthy to be on the bill,' he said.
However, Phyllis Caruth, chair of the Utah Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Commission, said that King's contribution to human rights legislation and enormous sacrifice for human rights on behalf of all people in the United States makes him worthy of recognition.
'Because of (King's) work we have an important piece of legislation protecting human rights in the United States,' Caruth said. 'His contribution made a difference for human rights for women, and for all people in the United States regardless of religious affiliation or national origin. King should be honored for his work that, really, shaped America.'
Crawford has hope that Utah legislators will be more sensitive since the 1986 controversy because of the state's record of celebrating the holiday as 'Martin Luther King Day.'
'Legislators want to be in step with their citizenry,' he said. '(Legislators) may still carry the same feelings they had in 1986, . . . (But) my feeling is that the legislators now are well-informed, and the situation should be very different now in 2000 than it was in 1986.'
Betty Sawyer, president of the Ogden branch of the NAACP, said that although she hopes the bill passes, she also has to be realistic.
'I'm always hopeful in thinking that we have come a long way in the state of Utah, but I look at the recent governor appointments where we missed the opportunity to add cultural diversity to the highest court in the state,' Sawyer said. 'I think there is still a general lack of sensitivity for ethnic diversity in the state of Utah.'
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