Dear Valued Customer,

Dawkins will be closed on Monday, January 15, to observe the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and celebrate the legacy of his activism during the Civil Rights Movement. We will resume regular business hours on Tuesday, January 16.

How We're Addressing Order Delays:

We have anticipated the impact that closing on January 15 will have on some customers and will work urgently to minimize disruptions upon resuming operations on Tuesday, January 16. For orders placed today, Friday the 12th, we will deliver those orders on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

Also, UPS has announced that it will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a UPS holiday moving forward, including this Monday, January 15, 2024. Please note that if we receive UPS orders today, they will ship out on Tuesday, January 16.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is also a recognized National Day of Service, and we’d like to commend anyone who donates their time to their local communities this upcoming January 15. We appreciate the support of our customers and associates as we celebrate this influential figure in American history. 

Sincerely,

Belinda and Roy Dawkins

King waves from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where he delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, Aug. 28, 1963.

In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963, King’s campaign to end segregation at lunch counters and in hiring practices drew nationwide attention when police turned dogs and fire hoses on the demonstrators. King was jailed along with large numbers of his supporters, including hundreds of schoolchildren. His supporters did not, however, include all the Black clergy of Birmingham, and he was strongly opposed by some of the white clergy who had issued a statement urging African Americans not to support the demonstrations. From the Birmingham jail, King wrote a letter of great eloquence in which he spelled out his philosophy of nonviolence:

You may well ask: “Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn’t negotiation a better path?” You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."

Letter from Birmingham, AL jail, April 16, 1963.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered for his achievements in civil rights and for the methods he used to get there — namely, nonviolence. More than just a catchphrase, more than just the “absence of violence,” and more than just a tactic, nonviolence was a philosophy that King honed over the course of his adult life. It has had a profound, lasting influence on social justice movements at home and abroad.

Source: Constitutional Rights Foundation 



Nonviolence is a love-centered way of thinking, speaking, acting, and engaging that leads to personal, cultural and societal transformation.

DR. KING’S FUNDAMENTAL PHILOSOPHY OF NONVIOLENCE:

Fundamental tenets of Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence described in his first book, Stride Toward Freedom. Dr. King often said, he got his inspiration from Jesus Christ and his techniques from Mohandas K. Gandhi. These principles should be embraced as a lifestyle.

PRINCIPLE ONE: Nonviolence Is a Way of Life for Courageous People.

PRINCIPLE TWO: Nonviolence Seeks to Win Friendship and Understanding.

PRINCIPLE THREE: Nonviolence Seeks to Defeat Injustice, or Evil, Not People.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: Nonviolence Holds That Unearned, Voluntary Suffering for a Just Cause Can Educate and Transform People and Societies.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: Nonviolence Chooses Love Instead of Hate.

PRINCIPLE SIX: Nonviolence Believes That the Universe Is on the Side of Justice.

Source: The King Philosophy - The King Center 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."

Strength to Love, 1963.

"Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

From the "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963.

"If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."

Christmas sermon, Atlanta, Georgia, 1967.

Family portrait of King with his wife, Coretta, and their children: Yolanda, Martin Luther III, Dexter, and Bernice.

King sits with his wife, Coretta, and three of their four children.