They say it's not just a day off from work and school - it's a vital holiday when people should be evaluating equality in education and the workplace, especially in Utah, where about only one person in five is a minority. The holiday should be a time when the community is celebrating its growing cultural differences, but it's still a challenge to break through the dominant Utah culture, some say.

"I don't think people refuse to learn about the holiday - they just don't care to," said Jeff Thomas, a Salt Lake City resident. "But they're happy to have the holiday."

There are school projects, university presentations, speeches and a few luncheons, but for the public at large, there's not much going on statewide for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Some blacks say they are not sure why there isn't more done in the community to honor King and his vision. Maybe it is because Utah blacks, at 30,340 people, make up only about 1 percent of the population. So some feel they are overlooked because they are the smallest of the major minority communities that include Asian-Pacific Islanders, Latinos and Native Americans. Maybe, they say, it's because the black community is so spread out along the Wasatch Front that there is not enough unity to organize something. Or maybe it's because in 2000, Utah was the last state to formally recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday.

On a recent Saturday morning, as they sat waiting for the chair at Jim's Barber Shop in Salt Lake City, a few customers shared their ideas about growing up before the Civil Rights Movement, King, the holiday and being black in Utah. Here's what they had to say:

Ed Hurd, 63, chef

Salt Lake City

Hurd remembers when blacks couldn't express their opinion in public. He always had to address white men as "Sir," women as "Madam." He was denied service at restaurants and hotels because of his skin color.

It wasn't until he was in ninth grade that white students were integrated into his classes. Before the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, there were rules blacks had to abide by to survive.

"You knew how to live by the rules, but it built a bitterness in you," said Hurd, who grew up in Oklahoma.

That's why Hurd said he didn't peacefully march during the movement, because his military training taught him to be tough. Still, he said the holiday should be a time for Americans to remember what life was like for blacks and other minorities before the movement.

Today, blacks get to sit anywhere they want on a bus because of folks who fought for the rights of all people. Blacks shouldn't forget their history and the discrimination faced by the generations before them, Hurd said. Even though he knows some people only see the color of someone's skin.

"They're going through the same thing - it's just not in your face," Hurd said. "Laws have changed, but it's still there."

Seth Brown, 7, student

in second grade

Salt Lake City

Seth said he's probably going to play King's character in a class play soon because he's the "brownest in school."

He said he's excited about performing in the play because it's honoring a man whom he admires for helping a lot of people.

"It's important, because if he hadn't of done what he did, black people would just be sitting around getting shot," Seth said. "He just didn't think of himself. He knew that when he died, people would still protest and believe in him."

Johnny Taylor, 45,

mortgage loan officer

Salt Lake City

When Taylor moved to Utah in 1981 to play football at the University of Utah, the only black community he knew of was made up of some of his teammates.

The only black-owned businesses he knew of were barber shops.

But Taylor decided to stay after college because he could see glimpses of change. He started to see more minorities moving to Utah. There were more minorities in leadership positions. There were more job opportunities.

"If you have more people moving in, you might see more change," he remembers thinking.

Now, 25 years later, Taylor said the state is adapting to the growing ethnic community, but he would like to see blacks take a greater leadership role in making changes in Utah and nationwide.

Blacks need to be more outspoken and go after opportunities instead of waiting for a system to change or for someone else to fight their battles, Taylor said.

"It's more than 40 years later [after the movement], and we're still struggling with the dream," he said. "I'd like to see more people take ownership of their lives."

Damon Hutchins, 33,

delivery driver

West Valley City

Hutchins admits that growing up in Utah had its challenges.

In third grade, his neighborhood friend wasn't allowed to play with him because he was black. In high school, his date was not allowed to go to a school dance with him because he was black.

But Hutchins said he doesn't dwell on those experiences because there is no room for bitterness in his heart. He just brushes it off as people being ignorant.

"It's easy to talk about the bad things, but it's the good things that outweigh the bad," he said.

For now, Hutchins said he's staying in Utah to raise his young family. He hopes his 6-year-old son, Damonte, benefits from having a black dad and white mom. Hutchins knows that he, and probably his son, might be judged on the color of his skin, but he's not letting that stop him from bettering his life.

"The playing field may not be level, but I'm going to work harder," he said.

jsanchez@sltrib.com