New Yorkers mark King Day with service, activism
For some New Yorkers, today's holiday is actually a day to get to work.
At least that's the idea in Queens and other parts of the city, where some 10,000 volunteers are expected to participate in a Martin Luther King National Day of Service as they lead food and clothing drives, clean up neighborhood streets and visit senior centers, among other efforts.
"We believe that the message of Dr. King was that everyone can be great because everyone can serve," said Hanako Ikeno, a program coordinator with Service For Peace, which is organizing the effort in Queens.
Most of the efforts around the country to re-energize the federal holiday are centered on rousting slumbering youth on a day off from school.
"The thing about Martin Luther King's dream is that there is still a lot we need to do to improve things," said Esther Allen, 16, of Jamaica, Queens, who last year helped lead a civil rights fair for elementary school children and will volunteer again this year. "You can do something productive instead of just bumming around the house."
Martin Luther King Jr. Day became officially a day of service in 1994 when Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act 11 years after the holiday was created over the opposition of President Ronald Reagan and many conservatives who didn't want another federal holiday.
The idea of making the day about service has been slow to catch on, according to former Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), who spearheaded the effort.
"We've come a long way, but we still have a long to go," he said. "If Dr. King came back today, I think he would not be happy to see it as a day off rather than a day of action."
Leaders of the Day of Service in Queens say that volunteering is a way to keep the spirit of the civil rights movement alive for those too young to remember it.
"King awakened the nation to problems black people were having, and our young folks don't even know about it," said the Rev. James Artis, head clergy of the Sojourner Truth AME Zion Church in St. Albans, which is hosting a street cleanup and food drive today for area residents.
"You have to take a stand or it becomes just another holiday where people do nothing," said Artis, who marched with King on Washington in August 1963.
Other civil rights veterans, however, worry that too many are stressing service instead of King's message of racial and economic justice.
"I'm not sure these nice, cozy celebrations in halls and theaters are the right kind of thing," said the Rev. Herbert Daughtry, minister of the House of Lord Pentecostal Church in Brooklyn and a longtime civil rights activist. "The way to honor King was to do something in the street against some kind of injustice and go to jail. That was the way he was."
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Today is Martin Luther King day in the USA. The day has been commemorated by many people including US president George Bush. In a visit to the Martin Luther King Memorial Library, Mr Bush said that he believed "Martin Luther King is a towering figure in the history of the USA." Barack Obama also marked the event by delivering a speech from the church which is seen by many to be the place where King became a prominent figure in the politics of the US.

===New York===

An event in New York was organized that involved attempting to get thousand citizens to perform activities that were intended to help the community. Hanako Ikeno, who helped co-ordinate the event said that this event was organized because she believed "that the message of Dr. King was that everyone can be great because everyone can serve."

===George Bush===

George Bush at the Martin Luther King memorial library
President George W. Bush attended the Martin Luther King Memorial Library and gave a speech to mark the event. Bush said that "Martin Luther King Day means two things to me. One is the opportunity to renew our deep desire for America to be a land of promise for everybody, a land of justice, and a land of opportunity. It's also an opportunity to serve our fellow citizens."

Later in the speech Bush continued, "Martin Luther King is a towering figure in the history of our country. And it is fitting that we honor his service and his courage and his vision. And today we're witnessing people doing just that by volunteering their time."

===US Democratic party presidential candidates===
Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and John Edwards took part in a rally to commemorate Martin Luther King day. 


In the event Hilary Clinton asked the crowd to "Let us just take a moment to marvel at the progress we have made together." After saying that she added "But the work is far from finished, the dream is not fulfilled." The use of the word dream was widely interpreted as reference to Martin Luther King.

Obama added to Clinton's speech by saying "It's not always easy to see past our differences, every day our politics fuels and explores these kinds of divisions."

John Edwards said that "All three of us Democratic presidential candidates are on the journey with you on the march to justice and equality."

===US Republican party presidential candidates===

Mike Huckabee made a speech from a church that was near the former home of Martin Luther King.

Mitt Romney also discussed Martin Luther King and civil rights. In his speech he stated that he believed "the great civil rights issue of our time, is making sure our inner-city schools are up to the task." He added that he believed inner-city schools fail in "too many ways."