All over the country schools, churches, universities and other community groups will be celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday this week in many different ways.

Many, perhaps most, will recall King’s “I have a dream” speech at the 1965 March on Washington. Some groups will organize community service activities.

Participants will sing “We Shall Overcome” which has become the anthem of the civil rights movement because it proclaims to the world “I am down but not out; I will bend but not break” (as Detroit activist Doc Holbrook put it recently in response to my column on Disasters).

During Ronald Reagon’s administration, Michigan Congressman John Conyers and Motown musician Stevie Wonder led the campaign that won the King holiday. I did not participate because I thought the holiday would draw so much attention to King as a charismatic leader that the role of rank and file activists would be overshadowed.

I was wrong. Over the years the holiday has focused on King but it has also become a wonderful opportunity for reflection on his ideas and his leadership. As a result, it is the one holiday on our national calendar that is unlikely to become an excuse for barbequing, fireworks or bargain shopping.