OAKLAND, CA — Thousands of people are expected to gather at Oakland’s Oscar Grant Plaza on Monday for a rally and march to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and what organizers call his radical legacy.
The event, hosted by the Anti Police-Terror Project, is in its 12th year and is billed as “a political mobilization rooted in Dr. King’s uncompromising positions on anti-capitalism, anti-militarism, racial justice, and economic justice,” according to organizers.
Dubbed the “Reclaim MLK’s Radical Legacy March,” it also features speakers, food and family activities.
“Reclaim MLK is not about nostalgia — it’s about confrontation,” said Cat Brooks, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Project. “Dr. King warned us about militarism, racism, and capitalism, and today we are living inside the systems he named.”
Starting at 11 a.m. and running until 3 p.m., the event will feature a “Children’s Village” and a “Healing Justice Village,” which will include acupuncture, bodywork, herbal care and wellness items. People can also expect to hear from speakers, enjoy performances and food, and browse tables staffed by various grassroots organizations.
The rally and march will feature themes that include uplifting and protecting Black migrants, ending sweeps and housing the unhoused, removing federal immigration agents from local communities, ending mass surveillance and abolishing mandatory minimum sentencing.
Given the national political climate and President Donald Trump’s mass deportation raids in Democratic-led cities and his efforts to send federal troops into communities that largely voted against him, organizers are expecting a large turn-out for the event.
“From a federal government advancing authoritarian violence to local officials in Oakland doubling down on policing, surveillance, and punishment, we are facing a coordinated attack on Black life and dissent,” Brooks said. “This march is a refusal. It’s a declaration that safety does not come from cages or cops — it comes from organized people willing to build power, care for one another, and dismantle the systems that are killing us.”
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