PHOTO LYNN ROSSI
LOS ANGELES, CA — On Saturday, February 21, 2015, I marched alongside hundreds of others in the March for Justice and Unity which began at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southwest Division on Martin Luther King Blvd. in Los Angeles. How symbolic and purposeful of a start point. It was an honorable way of bridging Dr. King and the past movement as it relates to NOW, especially during the memorable celebration month of Dr. King’s birthday.
Although Dr. King was savagely taken from us decades ago, his legacy and the spirit of his message still lives in the heart of many. On Wednesday evening, February 18th, 2015, I attended the planning meeting of the Black and Brown King Legacy March, scheduled to take place on April 4, 2015 which will be the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death, the day he was assassinated.
This planning meeting was the first of many which will take place over the course of the next several weeks. The meeting was hosted by Pastor Cue Jn-Marie of Church Without Walls, a street ministry in Skid Row. He is also an organizer for Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which Dr. King founded and was president of at the time of his assassination. I was honored to meet at this meeting the current SCLC President, the Honorable Reverend Smart.
The assassination of Dr. King still resonates with us today as Black and Brown people continue to be brutally murdered far too many times at the hands of law enforcement where excessive force appears to be prevailing over protect and serve. In addition, there appears to be a systematic criminal justice bias of mass incarceration, unjust criminal justice policies and a society where income inequality is still a plight for many who are stuck in low wage jobs that does not allow an individual to be self-sustainable nor care for his family and even her family, given that many households are now run by single mothers. In a land of the “free and the brave,” third world living conditions appear to be more and more commonplace.
These are some of the topics which will be covered during this event. There is a diverse input of Black, Brown and White folks alike coming together for a common good; the well-being of those in our communities. We hope you will all get involved in this “call to action”.
