Martin Luther King Day DescriptionGovernor Evan Mecham’s first
act in office was to rescind an executive order creating a
Martin Luther King Junior Day in Arizona. It was all downhill
from there.The state faced boycotts and protests…and the
National Football League took the Super Bowl out of Sun Devil
Stadium.Finally, after five years of fights, marches, and failed
referenda, Arizona became the first state in the nation with a
voter-approved holiday honoring Martin Luther King Junior.
TranscriptWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal. Narrator: A national effort to honor Martin
Luther King, Jr., began less than a week after the civil rights
leader was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. It took 15
years for that part of the dream to become a reality, when
President Ronald Reagan signed the federal legislation creating
a holiday honoring Dr. King in November of 1983. Arizona
lawmakers, though, weren't quite ready to pass that particular
holiday, so Governor Bruce Babbitt t