By Dr. Maneshka Eliatamby
As an immigrant American, The King Holiday is undoubtedly the most important of US holidays in the year for me, coming even behind the July 4th celebrations of fireworks and barbecues! Perhaps this is not the case for every American of immigrant origin, but as someone of color, a woman, I am keenly aware of the nonviolent struggle that came before me that made this life of mine, my dream, a possibility. And to the women and men who came before me in the nonviolent struggle for civil rights, I am forever indebted. As such, it was with much excitement that I awaited the A Day On and Not A Day Off celebration of Martin Luther King Day this year. But alas, it was not to be. Despite a considerable presence of Americans in Nepal and the Lincoln School (named after the great emancipator before whose statue The Dream was articulated), I was unable to find any celebration of service honoring one of the greatest individuals in 20th century America. Just a few years ago I had been in Sri Lanka during this holiday, and the US Embassy there celebrated MLK Day in style, engaging Realizing the Dream (now Communities Without Boundaries International) in a series of nonviolence education programs across the island. As such, I was expecting something similar here. Perhaps more important is that I am disappointed in myself for not doing a better job to uphold the spirit of the holiday that I hold so dear to my heart, and organize a service project myself.
Civil Rights: An Often Overlooked Part of Our History
My recognition of the civil rights movement as an important feature in my life wasn’t always the case. In fact, many of us younger generation immigrants are often oblivious to the struggle that many Americans and immigrants endured to ensure that ours is a less troubled path to Americanhood. Why do I say this? When I moved to the United States almost seventeen years ago and attended school at the University of South Carolina, a school with great southern pride, I had little knowledge of the struggle that had ensued in order to make mine an equal life. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement were of little significance to me at the time—merely something I had briefly studied in school and never really learned of at all in college. What should have been a significant section in modern American history, the civil rights movement did not feature at all in my classes. The same was true of my graduate education in conflict resolution where perhaps one of the greatest examples of peace and structural change was glossed over. But shortly thereafter I was provided the opportunity to work with the modern day civil rights community and truly understand the complexity of the work that had made my life as an American what it is today.
Others who arrive to the United States as adults barely learn to spell the name King as we prepare for our naturalization exams. This system of welcoming the newest Americans fails colossally in providing the new immigrant a glimpse of the rich history that in fact enabled each of us the opportunity to an equal chance at legal migration to the United States, irrespective of our color, race or religion. Too often we find immigrant groups separate themselves into diaspora communities who while economically and politically are integrated with the rest of America, have a tendency to segregate socially.
There are several reasons why it is important for us, especially those of us who are immigrants to the US, to be educated on the civil rights movement:
1. Especially for the immigrant of color, such as me, ours would not have been the path of equality that we are now afforded. Today we can live and own business alongside our African American and Caucasian neighbors. Our children attend the same schools. None of this would have been possible without the civil rights movement that allowed us these equal opportunities.
2. Knowing our past so we can build community in the future: While the civil rights movement surely achieved a herculean feat in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, not all is perfect in the land of the free. Indeed there is much that is still left to be done. Where there was previously structural segregation, there is now social and economic segregation that unfortunately is often along color lines. The idea of Dr. King’s World House—the dream for a society that celebrates diversity and embraces brotherhood and sisterhood—is still a distant one. And if we are truly to achieve this world house, every day must be a day on and not a day off.
Today I am an American expatriate working in Asia, and I am keenly aware that the road to equality in all spheres—political, economic and social—is still a long one. The signing into law of the King Day Holiday was also a major achievement in the movement. And this holiday was not simply meant to be a holiday, but is meant to be a day on which we celebrate the distance we have come, and commit ourselves to continuing the work to ensure political, economic and social justice for all. Peace and community are not someone else’s responsibility. It is a matter for which we are responsible as a collective.
As an immigrant American, The King Holiday is undoubtedly the most important of US holidays in the year for me, coming even behind the July 4th celebrations of fireworks and barbecues! Perhaps this is not the case for every American of immigrant origin, but as someone of color, a woman, I am keenly aware of the nonviolent struggle that came before me that made this life of mine, my dream, a possibility. And to the women and men who came before me in the nonviolent struggle for civil rights, I am forever indebted. As such, it was with much excitement that I awaited the A Day On and Not A Day Off celebration of Martin Luther King Day this year. But alas, it was not to be. Despite a considerable presence of Americans in Nepal and the Lincoln School (named after the great emancipator before whose statue The Dream was articulated), I was unable to find any celebration of service honoring one of the greatest individuals in 20th century America. Just a few years ago I had been in Sri Lanka during this holiday, and the US Embassy there celebrated MLK Day in style, engaging Realizing the Dream (now Communities Without Boundaries International) in a series of nonviolence education programs across the island. As such, I was expecting something similar here. Perhaps more important is that I am disappointed in myself for not doing a better job to uphold the spirit of the holiday that I hold so dear to my heart, and organize a service project myself.
Civil Rights: An Often Overlooked Part of Our History
My recognition of the civil rights movement as an important feature in my life wasn’t always the case. In fact, many of us younger generation immigrants are often oblivious to the struggle that many Americans and immigrants endured to ensure that ours is a less troubled path to Americanhood. Why do I say this? When I moved to the United States almost seventeen years ago and attended school at the University of South Carolina, a school with great southern pride, I had little knowledge of the struggle that had ensued in order to make mine an equal life. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement were of little significance to me at the time—merely something I had briefly studied in school and never really learned of at all in college. What should have been a significant section in modern American history, the civil rights movement did not feature at all in my classes. The same was true of my graduate education in conflict resolution where perhaps one of the greatest examples of peace and structural change was glossed over. But shortly thereafter I was provided the opportunity to work with the modern day civil rights community and truly understand the complexity of the work that had made my life as an American what it is today.
Others who arrive to the United States as adults barely learn to spell the name King as we prepare for our naturalization exams. This system of welcoming the newest Americans fails colossally in providing the new immigrant a glimpse of the rich history that in fact enabled each of us the opportunity to an equal chance at legal migration to the United States, irrespective of our color, race or religion. Too often we find immigrant groups separate themselves into diaspora communities who while economically and politically are integrated with the rest of America, have a tendency to segregate socially.
There are several reasons why it is important for us, especially those of us who are immigrants to the US, to be educated on the civil rights movement:
1. Especially for the immigrant of color, such as me, ours would not have been the path of equality that we are now afforded. Today we can live and own business alongside our African American and Caucasian neighbors. Our children attend the same schools. None of this would have been possible without the civil rights movement that allowed us these equal opportunities.
2. Knowing our past so we can build community in the future: While the civil rights movement surely achieved a herculean feat in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, not all is perfect in the land of the free. Indeed there is much that is still left to be done. Where there was previously structural segregation, there is now social and economic segregation that unfortunately is often along color lines. The idea of Dr. King’s World House—the dream for a society that celebrates diversity and embraces brotherhood and sisterhood—is still a distant one. And if we are truly to achieve this world house, every day must be a day on and not a day off.
Today I am an American expatriate working in Asia, and I am keenly aware that the road to equality in all spheres—political, economic and social—is still a long one. The signing into law of the King Day Holiday was also a major achievement in the movement. And this holiday was not simply meant to be a holiday, but is meant to be a day on which we celebrate the distance we have come, and commit ourselves to continuing the work to ensure political, economic and social justice for all. Peace and community are not someone else’s responsibility. It is a matter for which we are responsible as a collective.
