King: Dream still lives
The legacy of the Civil Rights movement was shared among generations on Monday, when Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter spoke at a Santa Monica event to celebrate her father’s 77th birthday.
Yolanda King, 51, King’s eldest daughter, recognized her father’s life and work to promote social and economic justice during a three-hour celebration on Monday.
The event, which drew hundreds of people, began at 9 a.m. with commemorative speeches and singing at Soka Gakkai International’s Ikeda Auditorium at 525 Wilshire Blvd. It ended with a march to the new Santa Monica Public Library at 601 Santa Monica Blvd., where the Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium was dedicated to the civil rights leader.
Public officials, senior citizens, mothers and fathers, boys and girls of all walks and colors participated in the celebration.
Linda Johnson, director of women’s programs for SGI, gave an invocation, during which she stressed how the work of King and others like him must continue.
“As his dream has not been realized, and we are successors to his dream, each of us has to make the change occur, one moment at a time,” Johnson said. “That’s the only way we can become the sunshine that will melt that which separates between us.”
The invocation was followed by remarks from Nat Trives, a former Santa Monica mayor, who acknowledged the public officials who attended. Among them were a federal judge, board members from the local school district and community college, as well as new City Manager P. Lamont Ewell, Mayor Bob Holbrook and members of the City Council.
The John Adams Middle School Norsemen Honor Choir and the Jeffrey Barnes Choir each sang two songs, stirring the crowd and earning a standing ovation.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition — which organized the event — took a moment to honor three recipients of Santa Monica College scholarships.
Estella Burnett, who made the presentation on behalf of the coalition, recalled how she had received a $100 scholarship to attend SMC in 1969.
“I still have the check stub and program from the ceremony, but I don’t have the money,” Burnett said, earning chuckles from the audience. “It’s a pleasure to be standing here 35 years later and be presenting (these youth) scholarships, which is definitely enough to pay for books.”
Then, Dr. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., introduced Yolanda King.
“A 6-year-old girl once told her father she wanted to go to ‘Funtown,’ a place where (people of color) were (forbidden) to go,” Carter relayed about King’s daughter, who was a child during the Civil Rights movement. “The girl’s mother told her that her father was in prison because he was fighting for the right for everyone in America to go to Funtown...
“Today... we celebrate diversity and embrace each other’s differences, until differences don’t make a difference.”
Yolanda King’s speech was followed with more musical performances that included Reverend William Knight from Understanding Principles for Better Living Church. There was also a group singing community affirmation and benediction from Pastor Patricia Farris from First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica. Traditionally, First United hosts the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition’s birthday event, which has been organized since 1986.
YOLANDA KING SPEAKS
King’s daughter was escorted on stage by Santa Monica Police Chief James T. Butts Jr.
The audience, excited by Yolanda King’s arrival, stood and applauded as she took to the podium. One dad lifted his daughter onto his shoulders to gaze at the woman whose father led the Civil Rights movement.
Yolanda King had long red hair and was dressed in black. She owns Higher Ground, a production company, and has spoken to crowds in 49 of 50 states, according to a biographical profile. She also has a master’s degree in theater and has co-authored two books.
On Monday, Yolanda King discussed her father’s legacy and performed reenactments of famous Civil Rights activists and actions, including a dramatization of Rosa Parks refusing to sit in the back of the bus.
Parks’ decision spurned King to embark on the cause of freedom for all.
“My father was a king who bowed to the throne of God,” Yolanda King said. “He had a shield of prayer and a sword of non-violence.
“He was a king who disliked wearing a crown, but crowned a movement.”
In her speech, Yolanda King described three kinds of people in the world, two of which she believes are holding back today’s Civil Rights movement.
Included are those who pay lip service to its cause but fail to support it by taking appropriate action.
Yolanda King called those people the “could-a,” “would-a” and “should-a” individuals.
The second group holding back today’s Civil Rights movement are the “can’ts.” They have the means to make a difference but don’t or simply won’t. Yolanda King attributed their failure to act to an over-willingness to conform.
The third and final type of people in the world, according to Yolanda King, are those who continue to actively support just causes in their day-to-day lives. They are people, she said, who actively seek to make differences in their lives that will better themselves and others.
They also believe the greatest freedom is to be able to choose one’s attitude.
It’s that willingness to choose one’s attitude that drove the Civil Rights movement, Yolanda King said.
In the 1950s and 1960s, many people of color rose up from the fear and hate that oppressed them, and many whites freed themselves from the bonds of prejudice.
“They can’t ride your back if it’s not bent,” Yolanda King said, quoting her father and his belief that one can adjust his or her attitude to overcome life’s challenges.
“The Civil Rights movement was not a mirage,” Yolanda King said. “It was not a reality TV show.
“It was live, in living color.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 17, 2006. Read the original PDF.