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An official list of Mississippi state holidays doesn't include Great Americans Day, and tweet for the holiday weekend last year made no mention of it. In 2015, the state said it would celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert E. Lee, general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, on the same day.

But on Facebook and in interviews with BuzzFeed News, Biloxi officials initially insisted that it was established by the state legislature.

“That’s the state, the state called it Great Americans Day. The city of Biloxi celebrates MLK Day,” Biloxi Councilman Felix Gines told BuzzFeed News, pointing to a parade and other events over the holiday weekend.

Vincent Creel, a spokesman for Biloxi, also stressed that the city hosts a number of MLK Day events.

“Biloxi, a city that appreciates and embraces diversity, is a longtime support and sponsor of the city’s hugely successful MLK celebration,” Creel told BuzzFeed News.

Gines, however, would not respond to questions on why the city’s Twitter account did not mention MLK Day. He said he also couldn't explain a previous city news release from 2010 that called MLK Day “Great Americans Day,” the official city name for the holiday, according to a city ordinance years ago.

“I wasn’t elected then,” Gines said, stressing that he didn’t understand why there would be such public uproar about the tweet.

“I mean, you’re going to have a few assholes that are going to be like that, and that’s OK,” he added. “You’re free to take it up with the state.”

Councilman Kenny Glavan, elected in 2013, said he had no idea where the term “Great Americans Day” came from and was not aware of the social media backlash the city was facing.

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re celebrating Martin Luther King Day. I’ve never heard of the city calling it that,” he said of the Great Americans Day designation. What's more, Glavan added, he's ever heard of the state calling it that.

“My first reaction is it sounds like an error,” he said.

After reaching out to city workers, Glavan told BuzzFeed News that Biloxi had in fact passed an ordinance several years back designating the day, nationally recognized as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as “Great Americans Day.”

Glavan said, however, he did not know why city officials at the time adopted that resolution.

Creel said the origin of the holiday originated with the state of Mississippi after the federal government declared MLK Day as a national holiday.

The city of Biloxi celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2004.

“For whatever reason, some couldn’t bring themselves to do follow suit, and this notion of ‘Great Americans Day,’ honoring Robert E. Lee and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came about,” Creel said. “It filtered down to somehow be called Great American’s Day…in our city code of ordinances.”

“The thing that I have found most disheartening is that the city’s story on the community wide MLK Day celebration is lost in the brouhaha over Great Americans Day tweet,” Creel said.

The city lists Great Americans Day on in its ordinances, but not MLK Day. Biloxi officials voted to observe it as a holiday on Dec. 31, 1985.

Glavan, who said he was born and raised in Biloxi, told BuzzFeed News that council members would consider changing the Great Americans Day designation back to MLK Day if the residents request it.

“Yeah, if the citizens think this is confusing or we need to make a change, we'd certainly discuss it or consider it in order to avoid any confusion,” Glavan said.

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