Crowds Hear Martin Luther King’s Words, Remember Rights Struggle

Off from work and school, hundreds of Orange County residents attended celebrations Monday in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the slain civil rights leader who would have turned 70 last Friday.

In one of several commemorations held throughout Orange County, a crowd packed the Southwest Senior Citizens Center in Santa Ana to honor King during an event sponsored by the local branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

The gathering’s theme--”Drum Major for Justice: Marching Onward to the New Millennium”--was taken from a sermon preached by King on Feb. 4, 1968, two months before his assassination. Speaking from the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, King said he wanted to be remembered as “a drum major for justice . . . peace . . . righteousness.”

“Then my living will not be in vain,” he said.

Said Eleanor Brown, 63, of Santa Ana: “His wish to be remembered as a drum major for justice has been realized. Just look at all of these people [from different ethnic backgrounds] he has brought together in this room.”

About 300 in attendance heard testimonials from speakers who praised King for standing up to the bigotry that permeated the United States.

Earl Dearing, 64, of Santa Ana remembered growing up in a segregated Washington, D.C. There were no “white only” or “colored only” signs, but segregation was just as real as in Birmingham, Ala., Dearing said.

“When Martin [Luther King Jr.] came around, we realized that was wrong. . . . We had accepted these things because our families before us had accepted it,” said Dearing, a retired Marine and Vietnam War veteran.

During her remarks, Rosa Valencia, a representative of the local chapter of the Mexican-American Political Assn., said that King “gave new meaning to ‘liberty and justice for all.’ ” But “there’s still room for progress, and today is just another step in that direction,” she said.

Closer to downtown Santa Ana, about 250 people attended a King celebration at St. James Missionary Baptist Church, where the pews were filled. The annual gathering, organized by a dozen Baptist churches in the city, was one of the largest Orange County remembrances.

The music of gospel songs and clapping spilled from the modest church on 5th Street. Five pastors gave praise to King and, in the words of assistant Pastor Gary Watkins, “the Lord who has brought us such a long way.

“Dr. King said he refused to believe the bank of justice was bankrupt,” Watkins said, and the congregation answered “Amen.” Watkins credited King’s refusal to back down from his goals: “He demanded the freedom that the Constitution allows us.”

Darlene Long-Shorts of Irvine was one of many who had the holiday off. A paralegal, her law firm was closed for the day that she has long honored. Growing up in Alabama, she said, she was always kept home from school by her mother on King’s birthday, even before it became a national holiday in 1986.

She arrived at the modest church a bit late and waited in a foyer until the opening invocations concluded. She had a petite trio in her wake: 15-month-old son Timothy Shorts II, 3-year-old daughter Kawona, and 3-year-old goddaughter Alexia Williams.

As the choir stood and started singing and the congregation swayed and clapped, Long-Shorts and the children entered the church, the girls bobbing and twirling in their frilly dresses.

“I told my daughter today is Martin Luther King Day, and she says it over and over [like it’s a song], but the kids don’t understand it yet,” Long-Shorts said. “I still remember my mom keeping me home from school, and I will raise my kids the same way. If we adults don’t pass it on, they won’t learn their history . . . so that they can know about Martin Luther King and how we got to this point. Because of him, we are able to vote, we don’t sit at the back of the bus, we don’t drink in different drinking fountains.”

In a riveting sermon toward the end of the 2 1/2-hour gathering, Pastor Tony Simon of the Community Temple Baptist Church of Santa Ana took the pulpit and thanked King and other civil rights leaders who paved the way for the privileges he now enjoys.

“No words can describe what he’s done for us. For I wasn’t there . . . having to eat at the back of a restaurant, or sit at the back of the bus . . . but I’m glad someone stood up for me before I was born.”

Many in the pews were standing up, hands raised in agreement.

“We can’t have the dream if we don’t know about the dream,” he said, his voice booming. “Where there is unity, there is power.”