Reflecting on Progress Since King’s Death : Observance: Second Baptist Church worshipers in Santa Ana commemorate what would have been the late leader’s 66th birthday.

Rosette Williams vividly remembers how the people around her reacted on that day 27 years ago when they heard that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated.

“I was sitting in the beauty parlor and everyone acted as though it was a regular day,” she said Sunday, after a church service here marking the slain civil rights leader’s birthday.

Recalling how upset she felt by the lack of sorrow over King’s death, the Santa Ana high school teacher added: “I’ve lived here for about 30 years, and things really haven’t changed.”

Williams and other members of the Second Baptist Church exploded in jubilation and cheer while commemorating the life and achievements of the social activist, who would have been 66 on Sunday.

Clapping in unison and yelling supportive amens when speakers took the podium, the more than 300 people who crowded the county’s oldest African American church sang of reclaiming American history and the endless struggle for social justice.

Some came from Los Angeles County and even as far as the Virgin Islands to hear Thomas Todd, a prominent African American attorney from Chicago, deliver the keynote address.

Frank Robertson, 26, said he drove from Los Angeles with his wife and three children to celebrate the life of a minister who touched his life.

“(King’s) philosophy has kept me going in the right path. I have a close-knit family, a good career and graduated from college by believing in Dr. King,” Robertson said. “I believe we all must have an urgency to step forward and use the past to help us move forward.”

The Rev. John Nix McReynolds opened the service by emphasizing the value of self-empowerment through hard work. Had King not marched against injustice, risked death threats and traveled the country to solidify the civil rights movement, McReynolds said, King’s dream for America would have shattered.

“We all must scratch in the dirt to find work. We must work hard and use that dirt to build a molehill into a mountain,” McReynolds said.

In his projecting, musical voice, Todd then began his eulogy by tracing the irony of how King’s birthday falls in the month of January, which derives from Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and ends, symbolizing knowledge of the past and the future.

“I am reminded of Janus when we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Todd said. “When we think of Dr. Martin Luther King, we must put his memory in context. The people must want to use his legacy. If they do, then they must do something about it.”

Urging the audience to forge change by learning from the lessons of history, Todd recalled some historic moments.

He spoke of the Montgomery bus boycott, a massive protest that shut down that Alabama city’s bus system, triggering the battle against segregation in the United States. He remembered Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass and a score of other leaders who helped initiate social reform.

Reminding the crowd that American history carries the legacies of many black leaders and expressions of the power of the people, he said struggle for social justice must continue.

“Everywhere we go now, the challenges are just as difficult as when Martin lived,” Todd concluded. “But you’ve got to remember, you didn’t get here by yourself. You’re standing on someone else’s shoulders.

“Somebody marched to get you here. Somebody cried to get you here. Somebody died to get you here. Reach back, reach down to help someone across.”

As the people filtered out of the church, Williams, the last to leave, added a final word of encouragement.

“Some of my students don’t understand why we celebrate this holiday,” the Santa Ana teacher said. “Others do know who Dr. King is. All I can do is remind my students to be proud of who they are, of their differences. And that they have something to offer.”