Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich, responding to a flurry of comments about a city tweet today referring to Monday as “Great Americans Day,” believes the Biloxi City Council on Tuesday should take steps to update the city’s Code of Ordinances to reflect the official federal name of the holiday, “Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” commonly known as “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.”
“In my opinion,” Gilich said, “that is the appropriate step to take, for the holiday to have the same name as the federal holiday.”
Added the mayor: “This city’s longstanding support of our annual MLK celebrations speaks volumes about our support for this holiday. In fact, we’ve always celebrated this day as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.”
The issue arose this afternoon when the city tweeted a one-line sentence that said non-emergency city offices would be closed on Monday “in observance of Great Americans Day.” The name has since been traced back to a City Council on Dec. 23, 1985 to proclaim the third Monday of every January “to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as well as other great Americans who have made important contributions to the birth, growth and evolution of this country.”
Read about the city’s MLK celebrations
National Archives: List of federal holidays
