Chanting "power to the people" and carrying banners reading "we are the 99%" and "we need good jobs," hundreds of residents celebrated on Monday the legacy of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. at the Occupy King's Dream Parade.
Marqueece Harris Dawson, the director of Community Coalition, which participated in the parade, said the event was a reminder of how the country was doing, living up to the ideals King sought.
"We're here to take this day to mark some of the injustices that are still going on in the U.S. that Dr. King fought against 40 years ago," said Dawson, whose organization works to change social and economic conditions in South L.A. "Today is a celebration, but it's also a reminder and a check in on how we're doing in our country."
Southern California joined the nation in a day of remembrance on what would have been King's 83rd birthday.
At an MLK Day of Service event at Los Feliz Elementary School, Antonio Villaraigosa told an audience he wouldn't be the mayor of LA if it wasn't for King.
"It is a wonderful time for us to celebrate the memory, the life of a man who helped to make America a more perfect union," Villaraigosa said. "All of us are better off because of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. The best way we can remember Dr. King and his life is to do service for others. And that's what today is all about."
At Los Angeles Academy Middle School in South Los Angeles, volunteers painted educational murals, created playground games and activities, built benches and planted vegetation.
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The project was organized by City Year Los Angeles, whose members serve as tutors, mentors and service providers to various communities in the city.
Several UC Riverside student organizations and local community groups gardened to enhance a Riverside neighborhood in an "MLK Day of Service," while a ceremony marking the civil rights leader's birthday was planned outside City Hall.
The Child Leader Project, founded by UCR graduate Samantha Wilson in 2009, worked with students from Norte Vista High School on a community garden to "revitalize" the location and get teenagers involved in neighborhood improvement, according to organizers.
Other groups taking part in the outing included UC Riverside Cultivate R- Space, UCR Undergraduate Research in the Community, Growcology, California Campus Compact and Learn and Serve America.
"This is a great way for students to connect to their neighbors ... and get out of the classroom for some hands-on learning,'' said Becca Spence, coordinator of UCR Undergraduate Research in the Community.
The Healthy Heritage Movement held a ceremony at the King Monument outside City Hall at 3900 Main St., featuring gospel music, prayers and remarks by public officials.
"The purpose of the evening is to honor Dr. King's dream of bringing people together to live as a community," said Healthy Heritage Movement Director Phyllis Clark. "I think it is very important to begin a new year by giving thanks for getting through last year and to ask for protection, good health and economic prosperity for the coming year.''
Tree planting was held at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Long Beach, followed by the "Achieve the Dream" celebration.
Pasadena's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at Jackie Robinson Park was held from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and featured music, speakers and dancing.
The California African American Museum in Exposition Park served slices of birthday "Cake for King."
The documentary "King: Man of Peace in a Time of War" was shown at the museum, along with a reading of "My Brother Martin," written by Christine King Farris, King's elder sister. The museum's exhibits include "King in California II," a collection of photographs taken during his trips to California which will be on display through Feb. 28.
Visitors to the Museum of Tolerance near Beverly Hills participated in a special "Chain of Inspiration," creating an art project linking them to the legacy of King and other civil rights figures.
The documentary "The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement," which follows 85-year-old James Armstrong as he celebrates Barack Obama's election as president, was also shown at the museum, followed by a discussion with Darren Armstrong, one of his grandsons.
Both NBA games at Staples Center planned to include tributes to King.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated as a federal holiday in 1986 under a law signed by then-President Ronald Reagan. King and George Washington are the only Americans with federal holidays celebrating their births. King's activism in marches and speeches, most famously the "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963, helped foster the passage of civil rights laws and end segregation.
In 1964, at the age of 35, King became the youngest person up to that time to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., at the age of 39.
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