Crowd Unites at Harbor in Honor of King : Celebration: The event to remember the slain civil rights leader is filled with appreciation, music, poetry and art.

There was a mix of poetry, music, art and crafts Sunday as hundreds of people crowded the Ventura Harbor in early celebration of today’s Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

It was the first time that the harbor offered the event in honor of the slain civil rights leader. But its significance was not lost on one young man.

“My teacher told me all about how (King) went on a bus and he was a black person who paid, but how the white people said he couldn’t sit down because he was the wrong color,” said 5-year-old Alexander Gastrein of Oak View. “I think that’s pretty mean.”

Nearby, the boy’s mother, Suzy Gastrein, listened as Daisy Cotton recited some of her poetry on the steps of the Windrose Gift Shop. Scores of others joined Gastrein as Cotton ambled through poem after poem detailing the triumphs and suffering endured by blacks and others in the 20th Century.

“I thought it was moving, but I also thought there were not enough black people here listening to it,” said Gastrein, a black woman who recently moved to Oak View from France.

“I’m French,” she said. “Our histories are different, but I still feel part of it.”

Cotton, who said she spent a good part of the 1950s working with King at leadership conferences and other rallies in the Deep South, said the holiday is a chance for people of all colors to look back at past indiscretions.

King himself, however, may not be too proud of America in the 1990s, Cotton said.

“He would be perhaps appalled because his dream is still a dream and not a reality,” she said. “There are some positives that he would realize, but a lot of things he struggled against--poverty, injustice and oppression--are still existing.”

But inside the exhibit hall Sunday, where artists and crafts people were selling their wares and tickets for a brunch today at the Oxnard Community Center, the mood was far more celebratory.

“It’s a time to come together and remember the teachings of Martin Luther King,” said Joelle Gray of Oxnard, who was selling books by black authors at a booth in the exhibit hall. “It’s a happy time. Maybe somewhere, someone will say, ‘Hey, we can all get along.’ ”

Across the room, Deborah Coleman and Audree Robinson manned a booth that was selling figurines, clothing, prints and posters. Four years ago, the two sisters founded Afro American Images, a business as well as an effort to promote awareness and pride in the black community.

“We want to put out positive black images,” Robinson said from behind the table. “Used to be you’d have to go to two or three places to find a pretty black doll that some girl would want to play with. Now, people are becoming more aware that a Barbie doll can be black and still be salable.”

Andrea James heard about the Ventura Harbor celebration Saturday night and decided that it was worth a look.

“I just wanted to see Martin Luther King’s birthday celebrated in a different area,” the Pasadena resident said while looking over the selection of wares at a table manned by vocalist Mikki Bouchard. “It’s a sense of being and a sense of pride that everyone should have.”

Bouchard, selling earrings and other handcrafted artifacts to raise money for a trip later this year to Atlanta, said she was at the harbor Sunday mostly for the young people.

“Hopefully, they’ll see something that will enlighten them,” she said.

Events to honor King continue at 8 a.m. today with a peace march from Plaza Park to the Oxnard Community Center, where a brunch and keynote address by Assemblywoman Gwen Moore (D-Los Angeles) are planned.

The Martin Luther King Committee of Ventura County is sponsoring the eighth annual brunch and celebration, and more than 1,000 people are expected to attend.