Plenty going on in NYC to mark Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday (January 15th). Signed into law by President Ronal Reagan in 1983, It’s only been 24 years since the third Monday of January officially became a federal holiday, but Gil Scott Heron worries it now just signifies “mattress sale” and a day off work.

According to playwright David Mamet, we can’t stop talking about race in America, which is why he currently has a play on Broadway called, simply, Race. Interesting as this week the FDNY (New York’s firefighters) were slammed for discriminatory practices in hiring. An amazing statistic – only 350 of its 11,500 firefighters are black. Meanwhile the furore surrounding a certain profile on Jay-Z in Esquire does not look set to die down soon. Not surprising really given the following excerpt:

Jay-Z is black black. He is old-school double-dark-chocolate-chunk black. He is black the way Labatt is blue. He is not white black, Barack black, like our president. Or the kind of black that doesn’t curse and deplores the n-word, the genteel black, like Oprah. He is, arguably, the first black-black guy to cross over into Oprah-land and Bill Clintonworld without making the Oprah-sized no-look-back forward flip that means you’re selling not necessarily your soul but perhaps something fleshier, a little more external.

For some reasoned and rational commentary / disbelief, check out the ever reliable Village Voice’s response.

So, doing their best to remind us this Sunday what Dr King was all about are:

Mos Def – rearranged from December, expect special guests at the Highline Ballroom for Jill Newman Productions.

?uestlove – the party’s just been moved indoors (what were they thinking?) to South Paw in Park Slope for Meanred Productions, with Waajeed in support.

DJ Spinna & Rich Medina – taking over Cielo for Giant Step, and a party that has been running for six years now. A portion of proceeds from the event will go to support the efforts of Médecins Sans Frontières in Haiti.

For those that want some brain food earlier in the day, an interesting panel discussion at The Brooklyn Museum entitled MLK: Generations Speak. The event is free and presented by WNYC.