{"id":33539,"date":"2023-02-23T09:26:43","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T15:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33539"},"modified":"2023-02-23T09:49:36","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T15:49:36","slug":"bill-would-create-malcolm-x-state-holiday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=33539","title":{"rendered":"Bill would create Malcolm X state holiday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nebraska would celebrate Malcolm X’s birthday as a state holiday under a bill considered Feb. 22 by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Terrell McKinney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB53, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, would establish May 19 as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, Malcolm X Day in Nebraska.<\/p>\n

Calling Malcolm X \u201cthe most famous Nebraskan in the world,\u201d McKinney noted the leader\u2019s importance in American, Black and Muslim history. Malcolm X is a central figure in the history of the social movements for civil and political rights, McKinney said, who has long been mischaracterized by those who falsely believe him to have been an advocate for violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cMalcolm X is one of the most fundamentally misunderstood people in American history,\u201d McKinney said. \u201cAnd perhaps the stigma around him would be extinguished if his achievements and contributions were recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n

JoAnna LeFlore-Ejike, executive director of the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, testified in support of the bill. The foundation, located in North Omaha where Malcolm X was born, works to ensure his legacy, she said, and recently won a victory when the civil rights leader was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

She said the impact of a statewide holiday could be \u201cmonumental\u201d for future generations of Nebraskans. If more young people learn about Malcolm X at a younger age through commemoration, she said, they could become stronger, more resilient and more excited about their cultural origins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere would be more motivated youth willing to grow from their experiences, transform and be more insightful about their contributions to the world,\u201d LeFlore-Ejike said.<\/p>\n

Gwen Easter, testifying on behalf of the Nebraska Commission on African American Affairs, also spoke in support of LB53. A \u201cworld-renowned\u201d civil rights leader should be honored by his birth city and state, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNebraska should be proud to recognize a day to celebrate one of the few international icons from Omaha, Nebraska,\u201d Easter said. \u201cMany cities around the United States already do in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also testifying in support was Y\u2019Shall Davis, who said Malcolm X stands out among leaders as someone who saw that he was on the wrong path and changed his life. She said his teachings kept her out of jail and encouraged her to become politically active.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike Malcolm X, I had to change my way of thinking,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWhen the streets of North Omaha led me astray, I was blessed to receive a copy of Malcolm X\u2019s autobiography and it gave me hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kathy Wilmot testified in opposition, saying there aren\u2019t enough days in the year to honor a specific individual to reflect every Nebraskan\u2019s heritage. In addition, she said, lawmakers should ask themselves if such recognition is \u201cproper\u201d given Malcolm X\u2019s exhortation to use \u201cany means necessary\u201d to advance the cause of Black people.<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on LB53.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraska would celebrate a new state holiday under a bill considered Feb. 22 by the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[262],"class_list":["post-33539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-military-and-veterans-affairs","tag-sen-terrell-mckinney"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33539"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33549,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33539\/revisions\/33549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}