The March Goes On at Parade for King

For Andrea Hayles, driving to South Los Angeles on Monday morning to pay tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was important to her son’s understanding of the world.

“Some forget the struggles people of color went through,” said Hayles, 31, of Torrance. And her 12-year-old son, she said, hasn’t learned much about King in school. “He has to come out here to get this type of knowledge.”

They joined the crowd -- estimated by police at 150,000 -- at the 20th annual Kingdom Day parade, promoted by organizers as the largest parade in the nation celebrating the birthday of the late civil rights leader.

“Building the dreams for today and tomorrow” was this year’s theme. King’s message of hope and equality was meant for people of all races, event organizers said, and the 174 parade entries reflected that diversity. Floats and high school marching bands shared the route with mariachi bands, dancers and children demonstrating tae kwon do.

“Dr. King had a dream that all people all over the world, all the races, all the nationalities are the same, and he wanted them to be treated equally,” said Larry Grant, a parade co-chairman.

On Monday, the parade began at Western Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and traveled west, a change in direction from past years. That allowed the two-mile parade to end at Leimert Park, where a festival was held.

Mayor James K. Hahn, riding in a convertible, danced to music from the street. Also in the parade were City Council members Bernard C. Parks and Antonio Villaraigosa, challengers for Hahn’s job.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) led cheers of “Save King/Drew!” as she walked the parade route in front of a Save King/Drew Medical Center float carrying members of the hospital’s medical staff.

In Oakland, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the Allen Temple Baptist Church. Joined by Mayor Jerry Brown, Schwarzenegger described King as “one of my heroes” and a “symbol of supreme courage.”

Schwarzenegger told the largely African American congregation crammed into pews, with an overflow audience watching on TV sets outside, that the torment King endured was a testament to his courage.

“I will never, ever forget the great lessons I have learned from Dr. King,” the governor said. “And everyone else has learned the same lessons; everyone else involved in serving the people -- that nobility of public service does not exist without public courage. And this is not only in politics the truth. It’s the case with everything in life: courage, courage, courage.”

As 62-year-old Mosstafa Rogers waited for the Los Angeles parade to begin, he hoped aloud that young people would understand how things were before and how they are now, and why King mattered.

“Some people,” he said, “don’t know what happened.”

Times staff writer Peter Nicholas contributed to this report.