By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

SENATOR Judith Guthertz, D-Mangilao, yesterday proposed the reinstatement of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the list of local holidays, saying that the local community “should take the time off” to remember and honor the civil rights hero.
On the first day of the Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Week on Guam, Guthertz introduced Bill 25, proposing that the third Monday of January be marked as a local holiday.
“We need to recognize and honor such a great leader like Martin Luther King. His works should not go unrecognized or not honored,” Guthertz said.
The celebration of King’s birthday was among the holidays removed from the Guam calendar when the 26th Legislature instituted austerity measures for the government of Guam, which was then facing payless paydays.
Public Law 26-157 reduced the number of paid holidays from 15 to 10. The events marked as holidays on Guam are New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July Independence Day, Liberation Day, Labor Day, All Soul’s Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Our Lady of Camarin, and Christmas.
In proposing the declaration of holiday for King, Guthertz said: “He’s made history in respect to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and fought for equality for all races. He also was assassinated for believing in this equality of mankind.”
“As I am sure that the people of Guam can relate to this day for his work and his good deeds of fighting to end discrimination and promote equality of all races, we too should take the time to remember his work and have the time off to partake in the many events that have taken place in our community to honor him,” Guthertz said.
King was born on Jan. 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. During the 1950s, King became active in the movement for civil rights and racial equality following Rosa Parks’ arrest for violating the segregated seating ordinance on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
King participated in the bus boycott and many other peaceful demonstrations that protested the unfair treatment of African-Americans.
King, who became a national hero and an acknowledged leader in the civil rights struggle, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.  He was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.