2 states celebrate MLK and Robert E. Lee on the same day. A Mississippi lawmaker wants to change that

Everyone knows Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a federal holiday that honors the slain civil rights leader on the third Monday in January. But two states also celebrate the birth of Robert E. Lee, the Confederate general, on the same day: Alabama and Mississippi. The bundling is insensitive at best considering Lee fought for the side that wanted America’s horrible legacy of slavery to continue.

But now a Columbus, Mississippi lawmaker wants to change that, reports WCBI. State Representative Kabir Karriem recently introduced a bill that would make Martin Luther King Jr. Day the sole holiday on the third Monday in January in the state. 

“We’re going to do all we possibly can. I think it’s a very important issue for not only this generation but for generations to come. And it’s a new day in Mississippi. We’re gonna be everything that we say that we are and being progressive in Mississippi it’s time to put Robert E. Lee to bed in the museums and honor Dr. King on his birthday,” Karriem told the local television station.

The bad news? Karriem has introduced this legislation before, and it’s never gotten out of committee. But there is good news, too: The legislation Karriem has reintroduced does have precedent. Arkansas used to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Robert E. Lee’s birthday on the same day, too, but as NBC News reported, in 2017 Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson signed a bill that removed the celebration of Lee’s birthday from Martin Luther King Jr. Day to the second Saturday in October.

“I expected this debate would divide us, but instead during the debate we listened to each other and the conversation brought us together,” Governor Hutchinson said at the time. “This is an education bill in which the discussion educated each of us, and we learned that history needs to be viewed not just from our own lens, but through the eyes and experiences of others.”