The federal holiday commemorating the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was observed last Monday, Jan. 17. Many Americans took advantage of the time off from work and school to organize or attend celebrations in King’s honor, listen to anecdotes about his life and consider his life’s work involving his lasting message of unity and peace for America.

However, most Americans simply took the day off, which I find rather regrettable. However, it doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the amount of companies that ignored the holiday and required employees to work, and the number of Americans, both public and private figures, who annually use the King holiday as an opportunity to debate and question its legitimacy. It bothers me that there is still a faction in this country that believes and publicly opines the notion that King does not deserve a federal holiday in his honor.

Many of the people who question the holiday are, as you might suspect, racists or members of various white-supremacy groups. But just as many are average citizens, businessmen, politicians and journalists who can typically put forth no argument for their cause other than the usual hare-brained premise: “Other people deserve holidays, why should he get one?”

I’ll tell you why. King was no ordinary man, and that is a gross understatement – to try to describe him in simple terms depreciates his greatness. You cannot put a one-word label on King because he was and is so many different things to so many people – to an entire race and nation of people during an era of chaos and crisis. The man who was Martin Luther King, Jr. was a teacher, minister, protester, leader, politician, diplomat and Nobel laureate – all in a life that spanned fewer than 40 years. Among black Americans he was recognized as a national hero by age 28. How many of us, in an entire lifetime, will ever become even one of the things King was?

King spent nearly his entire life fighting for the rights of a formerly enslaved people trapped within a nation of their former “masters,” surrounded by aggression, hatred and violence. Furthermore, unlike many other political leaders, he fought on the frontlines, and was routinely maligned, threatened, harassed, beaten (by private citizens and by police officers), arrested and jailed – even his house was bombed. Through all of this, King never struck a blow against any of his persecutors and would not allow his followers to do so either. How many of us would, or could, take a brick in the side of the head, or rot in a jail cell for months for something we believe in? Who among us today is willing to die peacefully for a righteous cause?

King eventually became a champion not only for black civil rights, but for the human rights of downtrodden and impoverished people all over the world. He was one of – if not the most prominent – important and influential black Americans of the 20th century. In a nation where, outrageously, neither a black man nor any other person of color is likely to be elected to the highest office in the land anytime soon, King fills that role for generations of American minority members – I consider him to be the first, and only, “black American president.”

Even in death, the person King was continues to inspire, and encourage people of all races and nations. He is the kind of person the Japanese would refer to as a “national treasure.” He is a cultural icon and a symbol of hope, peace, non-violence and righteousness.

What person could possibly be more deserving of a national holiday?

-Ben Tambaschi is a biology and religious studies senior.

-This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec. Send e-mail to letters@thedailyaztec.com. Anonymous letters will not be printed – include your full name, major and year in school.