MLK Day 2021: What’s Open, Closed In Brookhaven

BROOKHAVEN, GA — The life and legacy of civil rights icon and Georgia native Martin Luther King, Jr. will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 18 this year, with a variety of services in Brookhaven being altered or closed for the federal holiday.

The road to this federal holiday status was not an easy one. Almost immediately after King’s assassination in Memphis on April 4, 1968, some activists and legislators proposed a bill pushing for a federal holiday to commemorate his Jan. 15 birthday — but the bill failed to make it through Congress multiple times until it finally passed in 1983, according to National Geographic.

Former President Ronald Reagan immediately signed the legislation, but the first federal holiday was not celebrated until three years later in 1986. Even then, some Southern states — Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi, states that long resisted desegregation — grouped MLK Day with a holiday the three states already celebrated: Robert E. Lee Day, which was dedicated to the anniversary of the Confederate leader’s Jan. 19 birthday, National Geographic reported.

It wasn’t until 2000 that MLK Day was nationally recognized — but even today, Alabama and Mississippi still package MLK Day with Robert E. Lee Day.

King was an advocate for nonviolent social change and the most famous leader of the civil rights movement. His essays and speeches continue to inform discussions and education around race and civil rights, particularly his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Here’s a breakdown of how the federal holiday could affect your routine:

• DeKalb County and city of Decatur courts, facilities and offices are closed on Friday.
• Decatur garbage pick up: Both the city of Decatur and DeKalb County's Sanitation Division will not collect trash, recycling or bulk waste on Monday.
  • In the city of Decatur, if your regularly scheduled collection is on Monday, your trash will be collected Tuesday, Jan. 19. Regular services for Tuesday will take place Wednesday, Jan. 20.
  • Outside of Decatur's city limits in DeKalb County, there will bea one-day delay in collection services through Friday. If your collection service normally takes place on Mondays, your trash will be picked up on Tuesday, Jan. 19. This pattern continues through Friday.
• The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority will operate bus and rail services on a modified Saturday schedule with weekday start times on MLK Day, and the Atlanta streetcar service will operate on a Sunday schedule that day as well. To view the holiday schedules, visit the website.
• All DeKalb County Public Library branches will be closed on Monday. Curbside services will resume Tuesday as scheduled. Reminder: the libraries are offering contact-free pickup only.
• City Schools of Decatur students are off on Jan. 18, and all CSD offices will be closed.
• DeKalb County Schools students are off on Monday, and all offices will be closed.
• This is a federal holiday and all U.S. Postal Service post offices will be closed on Monday, Jan. 18. No mail will be delivered or sent. Regular business hours will resume Tuesday, Jan. 19.
• All banks will be closed.
• Publix and Kroger will be open.

Know of any other places that will be closed or services that will be altered for the holiday? Post in the comments below to let us know.