The following editorial appeared in the Roswell Daily Record on Jan. 17, 2016:
In New Mexico, Martin Luther King Jr. Day isn’t that big of a deal to a lot of people. Businesses choose to remain open for the federal holiday, essentially ignoring the federal holiday. We’ve got enough paid days off, they seem to be saying, so why incorporate another holiday into the mix?
And besides, it’s mainly a holiday for African Americans, and that’s only about 2.5% of New Mexico’s population. A celebration of King’s birthday (which is actually Jan. 15) is more for the places where African Americans live – not here, where their numbers are so few…