Across the country, people are celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day for all of the amazing accomplishments and civil rights advancements that he accomplished.
Coincidentally, MLK Day also lands on the same day as Robert E. Lee’s birthday. Robert E. Lee led the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and served as a general for the duration of the war. Three states in this country recognize Robert E. Lee’s birthday as a holiday: Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas. This year, they are celebrating the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert E. Lee on the same day, January 16th.
Many businesses across the country use Google to show basic details like hours of operation, where they are, and what they do. An unusual situation has formed with the “holiday hours” feature on Google with Martin Luther King’s birthday and Robert E. Lee’s birthday being on the same day. Businesses in the three states that celebrate both days are showing Lee’s birthday instead of MLK Day.
Shown above are restaurants’ business hours from the screenshots on Google. All from the three states that choose to celebrate both birthdays. Notice something interesting? Instead of listing Martin Luther King’s birthday, or even listing both birthdays, Google only lists Robert E. Lee’s birthday. This was also listed for every restaurant I looked up in Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas. No matter how big or small the city or business.
Red Alert Politics reached out to Google to ask why this was happening, and received this statement from a Google spokesperson:
“The holiday hours feature lets people know when a business could be closed or its hours could be different due to a holiday. Unfortunately, in the three states where Robert E Lee’s birthday is recognized as well, the feature is not surfacing Martin Luther King Day as it should be. We apologize for any offense this may have caused. Our teams are working to fix this issue as quickly as possible.”
This raises many questions as to why this happened, but, most particularly, why do these three states choose to celebrate both of these birthdays on the same day when both men have very differing views?
UPDATE
Google just fixed the issue. Now, it says “Martin Luther King Jr. Day/Robert E. Lee’s Birthday might affect these hours.”
