Late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. had many friends and admirers at the MLK Breakfast at the San Juan Oaks Golf Club, organized by Gilroy-based Bethany Community Church.
The church started the event to make a difference in the community, said church Pastor Gerald Harris.
“It was out of concern for young people regardless of race, nationality or creed,” he said.
The Monday event, in its fourth year, was attended by more than 200 members of the community and featured several public figures, including Mayor Ignacio Velazquez, County Supervisor Jerry Muenzer, Assemblyman Luis Alejo, and filmmaker and activist Luis Valdez.
The program featured performances by Bethany Youth Ministry, including a reenactment of King’s iconic “I Have A Dream” speech, as well as the choir singing a rendition of “We Are The World” by Michael Jackson.
Children from the church – ranging in age from toddler to young teen – performed as “folklorico” dancers who focus on traditional Latin American dances.
The connection between the Latino culture and King’s struggle for civil rights is a “parallel,” said Valdez.
“The idea of civil rights is attached to the struggle for workers’ rights,” he said.
The famed director of the movie “La Bamba” and founder of the El Teatro Campesino theater troupe in San Juan Bautista, Valdez recalled his days marching in civil rights protests during the 1960s.
“I was beaten and jailed for nonviolent actions,” he said.
He said he had joined Cesar Chavez, the leader of the farm labor movement in California in the 1960s, in marching from his hometown in Delano to Sacramento in 1966 a year after King led marches from Selma to Montgomery, Ala.
He said California is approaching a “definitive time” where minorities will become the majority of the state’s population for the first time in its history.
He said California represents the “melting pot” King struggled to achieve.
“The promise of America – equality for all – is worth dying for,” he said. “The life of MLK represents what America is all about.”
Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, reflected those remarks.
“We have the most diverse Legislature in the world,” he said. “It’s a reflection of the people of California.”
Mayor Ignacio Velazquez also spoke about MLK’s effect on himself and the community.
“MLK is very special to my family,” said the mayor.
He said his daughter keeps a framed picture of the civil rights leader in her room.
“It’s one of the only political pictures in my house other than myself,” he joked.
He said King was a figure he “idolized” and recalled a time visiting Memphis, Tenn., when he came upon the hotel where King was shot and killed in April 1968.
“For a split second, I could see him there,” he said, referring to the second-story rail where King was gunned down by assassin James Earl Ray. “This is a very important man.”
Alejo reflected on what King’s legacy is and how it made a difference to him as a state legislator.
“We all know today, Monday – MLK Day – is not a day off but a day on,” he said.
He praised the men and women who marched with King as “everyday courageous people” fighting to make a difference.
Still, he acknowledged that more work must be done for equality and social justice in order to carry on King’s fight.
“My principle has always been that if you help the poorest … it’ll lift up everyone,” he said.
He mentioned his minimum wage increase and undocumented immigrant driver’s license bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year as examples of those principles.
“That’s a reflection of continuing the dream of MLK,” he said.
Valdez said the celebration was to commemorate the “ideal MLK died for.”
“The civil rights movement is the difference between today and tomorrow,” he said, “the manifest destiny of social justice for everybody.”
