GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) – The Rev. Jesse Jackson and about 500 other people marched downtown Saturday to rally for a county holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Jackson, a Greenville native and president of the National Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, urged Greenville County Council members to pass a paid holiday honoring the slain civil rights leader. In South Carolina, Greenville is the only county without a King holiday.
The march, held on what would have been King’s 76th birthday, comes almost two years after Jackson led thousands through Greenville to protest the county’s lack of a King holiday. Jackson urged the crowd to attend a council meeting Tuesday and insist on a vote for the holiday.
Two council members who opposed a King holiday were not re-elected during last year’s elections.
“The numbers are there, but it should not boil down to a vote so bitterly divided,” Jackson said, adding that he didn’t know if he would attend the council meeting.
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