Countywide : Followers of King Rally for Peace

Followers of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. took to the streets and to UC Irvine for a rally on Friday in honor of the late civil rights leader’s birthday.

“If you honestly believe in love, the time has come for you to love,” said the Rev. John McReynolds, pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana. “If you honestly believe in peace, then the time has come for you to act out peace.”

About 200 demonstrators joined in the event, which was by turns festive and somber, reflective and combative. And overarching the entire affair were repeated references to the military conflict in the Persian Gulf, a war that speakers insisted King himself would have opposed were he still alive.

“Certainly, Dr. King would be shaking his head right now at the tragedy that occurs in the Persian Gulf,” one speaker said, and demonstrators nodded vigorously. “He was a man of peace.”

Some demonstrators were visibly moved, and at least one cried openly as taped speeches of King, who was shot to death in 1968, were played for the crowd.

The rally in the center of UCI followed an earlier, more subdued session of King supporters, who gathered in nearby Mason Park before marching to the campus.

There, Harry Mashele, a Soweto native who is studying at UCI, spoke briefly on the political situation in his native South Africa and asked students to join him in opposing apartheid. “We cannot be separated anymore,” he said. “We need to unite. We need to stand together.”

Students gathered tightly around him as he spoke, applauding warmly. Organizers then assembled the group into neat rows for the march to the center of campus. The college contingent was joined by a large group of University High School students as the throng politely wound its way down University Drive on a warm, sunny day.

Marchers stuck to the sidewalks and avoided any acts of civil disobedience--a centerpiece of King’s nonviolent struggle against racism. Passing cars paused to watch the group, as did pedestrians.

Dozens of onlookers gathered as the demonstrators crossed onto campus, chanting slogans, such as “Racism has got to go, has got to go. It must go.” At one point, marchers modified that chant to shout: “Bush has got to go.”

There were no confrontational incidents and no arrests during the three-hour march and rally.