Storm Takes Its Parting Shots : ‘We shall walk in the rain’ : Holiday: Celebrants overcome the wet weather for a rousing march and tribute to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Their voices rose as the rain fell Monday morning in a march through Oxnard in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Because of the steady downpour, organizers of the King birthday tribute had planned to cancel the three-quarters-of-a-mile march from Plaza Park to the Oxnard Civic Auditorium.

At the scheduled 8:15 a.m. starting time, Oxnard Councilman Bedford Pinkard, Ventura County Supervisor John K. Flynn and a handful of residents gathered at the park to advise would-be marchers to go directly to the auditorium.

But people kept coming, drifting into the park by twos and threes, and the cluster of umbrellas multiplied, forming a small rainbow against the steely gray sky.

They marched after all--about 40 Ventura County residents singing “We Shall Overcome.”

“We don’t think Dr. King would have canceled it,” said Pastor Broderick Higgins of St. Paul’s Baptist Church.

As they carried their umbrellas along 5th and Hobson streets, the men, women and children also carried the tune of the traditional African-American spiritual that became an anthem of the civil rights movement under King.

At one point, the group improvised a new lyric: “We shall walk in the rain.”

Marcher Roland Reese also improvised, shielding himself from the pelting rain with a cardboard windshield shade in place of an umbrella.

“I’ve worked in a lot worse than this,” said the 42-year-old oil-field worker.

At the auditorium, the group shook off their umbrellas and raincoats and joined with the 600 residents who had driven to the event.

Billed as the seventh annual Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Observance, the tribute was sponsored by the city of Oxnard, the county and various local businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Turnout was small compared to the 1,600 that attended last year, which organizers attributed to the weather.

But the booming gospel music performed by the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Chorus warmed and filled the half-empty theater.

Many people said a little rain wasn’t going to keep them away from an event that they had taken a day off work to attend.

Oxnard resident Barbara Millines and her husband, Faite, said King led a movement that dramatically changed the way African-Americans live.

“We’ve gotten better jobs,” Millines said. “We’ve gotten better education.”

None of the speakers, including keynoter Betty J. Jerry, a Los Angeles representative on the Council of Concerned Christian Women, mentioned last year’s Los Angeles riots.

Sharon Cooper, 44, lives in Simi Valley, where the verdict in the Rodney G. King beating trial was issued, sparking the riots.

Cooper said it would have been inappropriate to focus on the riots at a birthday celebration for a leader who preached nonviolence.

“We’re looking more toward the future now,” Cooper said. “We must move forward.”

But some said they are apprehensive about the future.

Shig Maeno, 56, sat alone in the balcony of the auditorium, training his small binoculars on the parade of speakers on stage.

A Japanese-American who lived with his family in an internment camp for four years during his childhood, Maeno said he understands racial discrimination.

With racial and ethnic groups throughout the nation splintering into factions, the slain leader’s message of nonviolent protest is more important than ever, Maeno said.

“This is such a racist society,” he said.

Oxnard resident Saundra Middleton, 39, said she’s aware of lingering racism and brings her three children to the tribute every year to learn the civil rights movement’s proud history.

“If they know where they’ve come from and what people in the past have gone through for them, they then can take it and build,” she said.

“It’s our past as well as our future.”