The 38th Kingdom Day Parade, service projects, a Unity Walk in Santa Clarita, a program at the California African American Museum, and a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels will be some of the events to commemorate the Martin Luther King Day in Southern California
The 3-mile parade will begin at 10 am on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, just west of Western Avenue, continue west to Crenshaw Boulevard and then south to Vernon Avenue, concluding near from Leimert Park station on Line K.
The theme is “America, the World’s Best Hope.”
The soccer player, who plays for Crystal Palace and the United States men’s national team, has a tattoo that means a lot to him. Richards explains why he chose a particular portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., for a tattoo.
The grand marshal will be George C. Fatheree III, the leader of a team of lawyers who secured the return of Bruce’s Beach to the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce nearly a century after Manhattan Beach seized it as a result of racial animosity.
This will be the first time the parade will be on Martin Luther King Jr. Day since 2020. The 2021 parade was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2022 parade was initially canceled due to the severity of severe spikes in COVID-19 hospitalizations and rescheduled for June 20, the day the federal holiday of June 16 was observed.
The USC Trojan Marching Band will participate in the parade for the first time along with the new all-African-American Cardinal Divas of SC majorette team.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) High School Honor Band will also participate, as will marching bands from Centennial, Compton and Crenshaw high schools.
Other participants include equestrian units from the Equine Advisory Council, Elite Horseback Riders Club, and Urban Saddles; the Crenshaw Christian Center Drill Team and Drumline, the Kim Eung Hwa Dance Company, and Tommy the Clown, credited as the originator of the clown-based style of krumping dance.
Participating dignitaries include Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore, Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell, Representatives Maxine Waters and Sydney Kamlager, Senator Steve Bradford , Los Angeles City Councilmen Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Curren. Price, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho and Board of Education Member George J. McKenna III.
The civil rights leader was assassinated in a hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.
Other events in Southern California
A variety of service projects are underway throughout Los Angeles County to meet the goal set by Congress in 1994 to make the day “a work day, not a day off.”
The non-profit volunteer action center LA Works is hosting a Day of Service, from noon to 3:30 pm, at the Los Angeles Coliseum, where volunteers will create urban greening kits and assemble disaster preparedness materials.
The event will also include a vegan food festival, the opportunity to learn about local efforts to combat climate change, and a family zone with volunteer activities designed for children.
King gave a speech at the Coliseum in 1964.
Volunteer organization Big Sunday will hold its 11th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Clothing Drive and Community Breakfast, from 10 am to 1 pm, at 24th St. Elementary School in South Los Angels.
Volunteers will collect and assemble 2,023 cold-weather clothing kits that include sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, scarves, gloves, and socks for people going through hard times.
Big Sunday volunteers will also carry out various improvement projects for and with the 24th Street Elementary School community, including landscaping projects and interior murals, according to David Levinson, founder and CEO of Big Sunday.
Service projects in Long Beach organized by the Leadership Long Beach leadership program include:
- a sock drive;
- sending letters to seniors;
- weeding, mulching areas to prevent re-surfacing weeds, and planting native plants at Willow Springs Park;
- planting succulents for participating businesses, painting window boxes, picking up trash, and cleaning the streets of Fourth Street;
- picking up trash, painting the picnic area, restoring playground sand and power washing the basketball courts at MacArthur Park;
- paint trash cans in the Santa Fe Commercial Corridor;
- watering the 100 small trees planted on the Westside of Long Beach in November; Y
- sidewalk restoration in the West Long Beach area.
Santa Clarita will host its second annual Unity Walk in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at 9 am, in Central Park, focusing on King’s legacy and contributions to the nation.
Several speakers will celebrate King’s life and work, encourage attendees to embrace King’s core values of faith, education, nonviolence, love, leadership, community and hope, and participate in a day of service.
The theme of the program at the California African American Museum in Exposition Park for Martin Luther King Jr. Day is “MLK: A Legacy of Service.”
A King study group session will be held between 11 a.m. and noon, beginning with the playing of a recording of King’s 1967 speech at Riverside Church in New York City, “Time to Break the silence”, followed by a group discussion about how their words relate to the present.
Storytellers from the Los Angeles Public Library will read children’s books about King and building a better world from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.
Downtown Los Angeles Youth Orchestra will honor King from 2-3 p.m.
The program also includes family activities, crafts and food trucks.
Archbishop José H. Gómez will celebrate a Mass commemorating the King’s call to service at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels at 3 p.m.
Proclamation of President Joe Biden
“On this day of remembrance, service and action, let’s hold up a mirror to America and ask ourselves: ‘What kind of country do we want to be? ?’” said President Joe Biden in his proclamation declaring Monday Martin Luther King Jr. Day. `
“Will we honor Dr. King’s legacy by standing up together, supported by each other’s successes, enriched by each other’s differences, and strengthened by each other’s compassion? I think we can.
“It will require constant care for our democracy, a stubborn faith in this great experiment, and a commitment to eradicate discrimination in all its forms. It will require an honest reflection on how far we have come and how far we still have to go to be the best version of ourselves.
“But like Dr. King, I know that nothing is beyond the capacity of this nation and that we will keep America’s promise to all Americans: to perfect the union we love and must protect.”
Martin Luther King Day: Parade and Other Events in Southern California