Google Maps swaps MLK Day for Confederate holiday in several Southern states
It's Martin Luther King Jr. Day across the United States, but if you're searching Google Maps for businesses in three states, that's not the holiday that comes up.
Three southern states -- Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi -- combine the observed King holiday with a holiday honoring Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
And some users have noticed that when searching for businesses in these three states on Monday, Google Maps' holiday alert chooses to observe Robert E. Lee's birthday over MLK Day, which comes up in other states.
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Our own searches for businesses in those three states brought up the Lee holiday notice, while searches in other states brought up the MLK Day notice.
In a statement emailed to Mashable, a Google spokesperson said
"The holiday hours feature lets people know when a business could be closed or its hours could be different due to a holiday. Unfortunately, in the three states where Robert E Lee's birthday is recognized as well, the feature is not surfacing Martin Luther King Day as it should be. We apologize for any offense this may have caused. Our teams are working to fix this issue as quickly as possible."
The state of Arkansas debated a bill that would separate the two holidays, but it faces resistance from both state lawmakers who don’t want it changed and those who don’t want a separate holiday honoring Robert E. Lee. And, in Mississippi, the city of Biloxi experienced backlash for referring to the holiday as "Great Americans Day."
Over the last 18 months, several cities across the South, including New Orleans, have removed or renamed monuments to the Confederate general, part of an overall trend of taking down the Confederate flag and other markers following the horrific Charleston church shootings in June 2015.
Topics Google
Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
