As the Colorado Springs Gazette reports:
President Barack Obama's picture was removed this week from a Presidents Day sign at the Peterson Air Force Base commissary after customers complained that the image did not fit the holiday commemorating the birthdays of past presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
The head of the local NAACP and a commissary employee say it was blatant racism.
The picture of the first black president accompanied a sign near the entrance listing the government-run military grocery store's operating hours on for Presidents Day. The store will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Employees took the sign down after customers complained that the holiday wasn't about the current president, according to the Defense Commissary Agency, which oversees the base grocery stores.
Rosemary Harris, president of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said something more sinister was afoot...
A cashier at the commissary who did not want her name used said pictures of past presidents, including George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, have accompanied the Presidents Day closure sign.
One customer, a military retiree, objected this year because of Obama's race, the cashier said.
"He said they're not going to have no black man on the window where he shops," the cashier said.
The commissary agency disputed the cashier's story, saying no past presidents have had their picture displayed with the holiday message.
The racism of a single AAFES customer notwithstanding, and as much as we adore controversy, we took a brief look at this as it pertains to the law and it's not really ambiguous. Federal law declares the holiday to be nothing more than a commemoration of George Washington personally. Here's what the U.S. Office of Personnel Management says about "President's Day":
This holiday is designated as "Washington's Birthday" in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law. [Pols emphasis]
C.R.S. 24-11-101 is the Colorado state law that governs legal holidays, and here's what it says:
CRS ยง24-11-101. Legal holidays - effect.
(1) The following days, viz: The first day of January, commonly called New Year's day; the third Monday in January, which shall be observed as the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; the third Monday in February, commonly called Washington-Lincoln day... [Pols emphasis]
The Colorado name reflects a decision by some states to informally combine the celebration of Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays--this is where we get "President's Day," but even then presumably meaning only those two Presidents. In any case, it's the federal law that matters on a military base, and the official title of the federal holiday is Washington's Birthday.
With all this in mind, and despite the narrow and clearly expressed purpose of the holiday in the law, the meaning of "President's Day" has clearly gotten a little blurry over the years in general culture--and it wouldn't surprise us a bit that the Peterson AFB commissary proudly, if mistakenly, displayed a photo of George W. Bush in previous years like this cashier asserts they did. It's also a fact that they don't like Barack Obama in Colorado Springs nearly as much as they liked Bush, which may well have left the door open to a conveniently-timed "recollection" of the proper observance.
And that would, you have to admit, allow for at least some part of what the NAACP alleges was the true motivation:
"To me it doesn't matter if its racism or politics," Harris said. "It's probably some of both."
A poll follows. |
