Countywide : King Dream of Equality Celebrated

In a rousing, emotion-filled tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., more than 300 people came together Monday morning in Santa Ana to celebrate the slain civil rights leader’s birthday.

“I have a dream today,” King told the nation in 1963, and for the audience gathered in the auditorium of Valley High School, the words rang just as true today as they did 30 years ago.

The celebration, sponsored by Valley High’s Black Heritage Club, brought together local churches and members of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People in a joyous reaffirmation of King’s dream of an America undivided by racial hatred and strife.

The audience listened solemnly as NAACP member Darrel S. Cole recited King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech but broke out in deafening applause as Cole came to the last words of the speech: “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last!”

With shouts of “Amen!” and “Hallelujah!” erupting sporadically from the enthusiastic audience, pastors of local churches spoke of King’s contributions to America and the need to continue the struggle for racial equality.

“Which one of you will stand and help make Martin Luther King’s dream a reality?” the Rev. Mark A. Williams, senior pastor of New Spirit Baptist Church in Santa Ana, challenged the audience.

Several ministers lamented the lack of attention King’s birthday has received and urged the audience to reach out to the community and remind people of King’s contributions to the nation.

“If they will not cross the bridge to us, then we must cross the bridge to them,” said the Rev. Anthony Boger, pastor of the Good Samaritan Seventh-day Adventist Church in Santa Ana.

Sermons soon gave way to music, and with the arrival of a multidenominational gospel choir, the program was transformed into a jubilant celebration of faith. The line between audience and performers quickly became blurred as the audience, clapping loudly and singing with enraptured voices, became active participants in the performance.

“The dream lives on!” the Rev. Van Roberson, keynote speaker, roared in a fiery sermon that followed the choir’s performance. Comparing King to the biblical hero Joseph, Roberson predicted that King’s dreams, like Joseph’s, would someday become a reality.

“Just look at us!” Roberson, senior pastor at Santa Ana’s Greater Light Missionary Baptist Church, told the wildly cheering audience. “Today, we can ride the bus, sit where we want and praise the Lord. Some of us are even in the driver’s seat.”

But as the celebration wound to a close, Boger warned the audience not to forget the struggles that lie ahead.

“We are in the midst of a war for our rights, but we shall overcome,” Boger said as the audience joined hands, and with voices that filled the auditorium, began to sing: “We shall overcome . . . deep in my heart . . . I do believe we shall overcome someday.”