Filling in for Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Donny Deutsch wondered on Monday if Arizona had seceded from the union because the state refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day, despite the fact that the Grand Canyon State recognized the holiday in 1992.
“We’re in the year 2011, we’re coming off the horrific horrific event in Tucson, yet as we celebrate Dr. King’s day there’s still this very strange state, Arizona, that does not recognize it,” Deutsch told guest Al Sharpton. “Should they secede from the nation? With all that’s going on, it’s almost bizarre at this point.”
“Well, I think on today, I think they have seceded,” replied Sharpton.
As Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey notes, Arizona was not even the last state to recognize the holiday. “New Hampshire changed Civil Rights Day to MLK Day in 1999,” he writes. “Utah changed Human Rights Day in 2000 to MLK Day, the same year South Carolina made it a paid holiday rather than just a day of remembrance.”
WATCH (via Eyeblast and The Blaze):