Idaho was the 47th state to officially recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. But it wasn’t a begrudging, rushed attempt to avoid being the “last” to honor the civil rights leader that eventually pushed officials to recognition. Ironically, the presence of highly organized white supremacists and neo-Nazis did the trick.
Why Idaho Politicians Neglected to Approve the Holiday
For years, Idaho lawmakers took their pick of reasons to avoid recognizing the holiday, even after then-President Ronald Raegan signed it into federal law in 1983.
They cited Idaho’s small Black population, arguing that King was irrelevant to the vast majority of Idahoans. Elected officials pointed out that the segregation of Black Idahoans never existed on the same scale as in other states, ignoring the ways that it did exist and the more outright segregation of Latinos and other people of color.
Plus, King had addressed the ails of capitalism later in his life, organizing for an interracial effort for class solidarity that they thought bordered dangerously on communism. All things considered, King didn’t fit the profile of an Idaho hero.
Idaho Suffering in the National, Moral Spotlight
But Idaho couldn’t shake a different profile in the national image: that of a state that harbored the vanguard of late-20th century white supremacy within its borders. Richard Butler was at work building his “Aryan Nation” outside Coeur d’Alene, which the nation pointed to as evidence of Idaho’s ignorant thinking.
As the numbers of states that didn’t honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Day dwindled, they felt more pressure to do so.
“Resisting recruitment efforts by the Aryans, and countering Idaho’s national image as a haven for them, became so wrapped up with the MLK Day measure that organizing against neo-Nazis fueled more support for the holiday,” Boise State professor of history Dr. Jill Gill wrote in 2011.
Other states felt the crunch, but in different ways. In Arizona, the National Football League offered to bring the Super Bowl to Tempe if the state honored the holiday.
Abortion, Global Momentum Add to Pressure
By 1990, the conversation about the holiday had been plaguing Idaho for years. Then, according to Gill, two more things happened that increased the negative attention.
First, supporters of Black liberation celebrated worldwide as South Africa’s Nelson Mandela was released from prison on Feb. 11. Second — history does echo — Idaho drew attention with the nation’s strictest abortion ban, to be implemented if Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Legislators knew that they were contributing to a national reputation that could keep away major businesses. Republicans in urban areas were more likely to support the holiday’s recognition than their rural colleagues because they knew businesses in their districts wanted more, not less, access to out-of-state corporations.
Thus, late in the 1990 legislative session, legislators finally approved the holiday, but added to its official title to appease Republicans who didn’t want as much focus on King, which is why it’s known as Martin Luther King, Jr. — Idaho Human Rights Day.
Gov. Cecil Andrus signed the recognition into law in April 1990. Officials hoped that it would put to rest accusations that the state was gladly harboring white supremacists, though Idaho still trailed the vast majority of states in recognizing the holiday.
