I appreciate the sentiment but "work during what is supposed to be a Holiday" is absolutely not the take. My Middle School also refused to recognize MLK Day was a real Holiday and almost wrote us up for not attending class, while they gave us Christopher Columbus Day off... 🧵
Replying to @ElieNYC
"The way I look at it, people fought so I'd have the opportunity to work at a place like this. Working on this day, of all days, is a way I can honor that." What I do is objectively unimportant. But going on @cspanwj to fight with Republicans today, of all days, was a privilege.
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4:46 PM · Jan 18, 2021

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We deliberately stayed home. And when they did threaten detention and punishment, we wrote a letter to the Superintendent and had to speak to the school board of this 90%-white NJ Suburban town. We of course got a phone call, and my Mother's firebrand advocacy kicked in...
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Suffice to say, the Superintendent was S H O O K. We stayed home. Next year, they gave us MLK day off. And the Superintendent called us, and told us proudly that THEY were the one to help put it on the agenda that we should get MLK day off. (He expected praise; he got some. :D)
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I'm sure some people personally think that working themselves on a Holiday is a good thing, but please keep in mind that a lot of people fought for even these tiny concessions, especially in a country where 2 weeks of paid time off is barely something people have.
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"I can work on a Holiday" is fine, but trying to use MLK "he would want me to be working hard right now" as the justification for it is messed up, because that's the same justification that the School Board used to try to get us into detention for weeks.
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(I should call back into that School District, and see if they still take MLK day off....)
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