Marchers Defy Rain to Remember King

The rain poured down on Dionne Brown, but that did not keep the 8-year-old Port Hueneme girl from joining about 100 other people Monday in a march through downtown in memory of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

“I like Martin Luther King because he tried to get people to get along,” said the second-grader from Hueneme Christian School as she adjusted her umbrella. Days before, she wrote a school paper on the life of King, born Jan. 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Ga., and gunned down by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

Her 9-year-old brother, Michael, who marched alongside his sister and mother, Michelle, has been studying King’s life at home and at school.

“Martin Luther King taught us to try to fight the noble fight,” he said.

Children have been an important part of local celebrations of King’s birthday since the first event was held in 1986, said Iva Jeffreys of the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee of Ventura County. Many youngsters marched along with the adults as the parade headed west from Plaza Park at 8:30 a.m. and ended at the Oxnard Performing Arts Center.

A light drizzle turned to a deluge about a block into the march, and traditional refrains of “We Shall Overcome” seemed particularly appropriate. The Rev. Terrell Penny, 38, of Trueway Baptist Church in Camarillo, said the inclement weather united those in attendance, just as the words of King did so many years ago.

“This just reminds me of Selma and Montgomery,” Penny said, referring to landmark events in the civil rights movement. “We still need more unity and peace, and this weather has drawn us closer together.”

“We come here every year, rain, shine, sleet or snow,” said 49-year-old Patricia Trout of Ventura, who marched alongside friends and family. “I was around when Martin was killed. And even if I can’t get my 13-year-old to come down here, I will be able to tell him I was here and was part of it.”

Why wasn’t her son there?

“Three guesses,” she said. “He’s sleeping.”

The celebration turned to upbeat songs and messages of inspiration inside the performing arts center, where 200 more people joined the crowd and the 30-member MLK Children’s Choir performed a version of “We Shall Overcome” that had many people dancing and clapping in the aisles.

Nakasha Batiste, second runner-up in the recent Miss Teen Oxnard pageant, gave an eloquent speech on how King made it possible “for a young African American female to be judged for what she is, not by the color of her skin, in the pageant.”

Keynote speaker for the day was John Hill, director of the Los Angeles County Office of Affirmative Action Compliance.

He told the story of a 7-year-old boy who grew up first in a home torn apart by domestic violence, then in a foster home. The boy eventually earned a master’s degree in business administration and became a successful businessman.

“That little boy was me,” Hill said. “My life is dedicated to the men and women of the South who risked their lives so that I had a chance to be successful.”

It is up to adults to decide what kind of world they leave for their children, Hill said.

Hill denounced two California ballot measures, Prop. 187 and Prop. 209, which dealt with affirmative action and undocumented immigrants. “No one will use a stroke of the pen to put them as second-class citizens,” Hill said.

Hill called King a “prophet to America” and called on young and old to carry on his vision. “No matter what white America does to us, we will be free in this country.”