Notices by Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm), page 2

He continued to fight for the campaign, year after year. Stevie organized across the country as he toured, gathering millions of signatures in support of the holiday. The fight took nearly a decade and a half, and reached its culmination just after Ronald Reagan had come into office and the political obstacles were strongest amidst the rising wave of extreme cultural conservatism and backlash to the civil rights movement.

And he didn’t just talk about it: Stevie showed up. He wooed members of Congress, signing autographs for their kids at private parties. The vote on the holiday failed to pass. The next year, it failed again. Stevie went from being adored at the Grammys to getting death threats. He held a concert on the National Mall, at great personal expense. He wrote the joyous anthem “Happy Birthday” in King’s honor & made it his next single. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfqWLmHwn7U

Stevie said that he was absent from the famous photo of the signing ceremony, even though he was present at the White House that day, because "I had to take a piss." Stevie made it clear the slight was anything but unintentional. But ultimately, in November of 1983, the bill was officially signed, and Stevie Wonder and everyone in the movement emerged victorious. In 1986, the country slowly began observing the King holiday.

One of the great privileges of my life was getting to sit a few feet in front of Stevie as he told a small group of us about his role in helping lead the effort. He mentioned the notorious signing event when Reagan reluctantly agreed to honor King ("since they seem bent on making making it a national holiday, I believe the symbolism of that day’s important enough that I would," Reagan said, before immediately jetting off to a private golf club that refused to admit Black members).

Stevie had bet one of the biggest careers of all time on an unlikely cause. *And he won.* The King family's fight, and the movements tireless efforts, achieved a victory that many thought would be impossible in their lifetimes.

Today, Stevie still exhorts us: don’t let them limit you to “just” an artist, or athlete, or entrepreneur, or teacher, or whatever role is dictated to you by society. Be you *and* be an activist. Stevie bet his life’s work that it would pay off, and persevered through years of setbacks. And he prevailed, for Dr. King. Just as importantly, Stevie's voice hasn't dimmed one bit in the decades since, and he remains profound and striking in his clear moral demands. We must listen.

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