Martin Luther King Jr. Day was marked Monday with numerous parades, musical and cultural events and volunteer opportunities throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties on the federal holiday honoring the legacy of the slain civil-rights leader.<\/p>\n
Monday\u2019s biggest Southland event for the occasion took place in South Los Angeles, with the renamed Los Angeles Official Martin Luther King Day Parade, with Cedric The Entertainer serving as the grand marshal.<\/p>\n
The parade began at 10 a.m. at Western Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, ending at Leimert Park. It included floats, marching bands, church and community organizations and elected officials, with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass among the participants.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, tens of thousands of Angelenos came together to celebrate the life and lasting legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the annual MLK Day Parade in South L.A.,\u201d Bass said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a wonderful and powerful tribute to Dr. King\u2019s memory to march down MLK Boulevard alongside so many friends and community members in the historic Leimert Park neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a separate statement, Bass said, \u201cAfter the parade, LAPD responded to a group of young people creating a disturbance and there are reports of a stabbing towards the end of the parade route that remains under investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Office of Community Safety is coordinating closely with LAPD and community violence interventionists in the area to de-escalate tensions and disperse the crowd to ensure everyone makes it home safely. Los Angeles has zero tolerance for this type of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stabbing occurred shortly before 2 p.m. Monday near McClung Drive and Stocker Street West, where a large group was present in the area, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.<\/p>\n
This was the first time the parade was conducted by Bakewell Media, publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper, which took over the event \u2014 formerly called the Kingdom Day Parade \u2014 and rebranded it as the \u201cafter the previous organizers, Adrian Dove and the Los Angeles chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality California, decided to retire from producing the event.<\/p>\n
Also Monday, the annual MLK Day Volunteer Festival took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, beginning at noon and run by the nonprofit L.A. Works. It\u2019s billed as \u201cthe largest activation of service event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. at a moment when the city\u2019s need for collective action has never been greater.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event focused on wildfire recovery and uplifting displaced families, and standing with immigrant communities, organizers said. It involved volunteer projects, educational activities, a nonprofit fair and a small-business zone, a live DJ, and more.<\/p>\n
Other Monday events included:<\/p>\n
\u2014 In Exposition Park, the California African American Museum organized a King Day program from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. that had a community service book donation drive supporting the Little Free Library at the Crenshaw Family YMCA; a faux stained glass workshop; a King study group; and concluded with a performance by the Inner City Youth Orchestra of L.A.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In Santa Clarita, a \u201cUnity Walk\u201d took place at 9 a.m. at Central Park, 27150 Bouquet Canyon Road. Mayor Laurene Weste provided remarks near a public art installation called \u201cWhen Cloud Met a Cloud,\u201d located toward the park\u2019s exercise staircase.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In Santa Monica, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition\u2019s 41th annual holiday celebration was held with the theme \u201cInjustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere.\u201d Emmy award-winning producer and reporter Bonnie Boswell, executive producer for Bonnie Boswell Reports on PBS, was the keynote speaker. The celebration began at 9 a.m. at John Adams Middle School\u2019s Performing Arts Center, 2425 16th St.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Cerritos\u2019 MLK Day ceremony began at 10 a.m. at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive. The ceremony featured remarks by members of the Cerritos City Council, plus guest speakers, a poetry presentation and musical performances.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In Long Beach, the Queen Mary commemorated MLK Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with a student speech-writing contest, a lecture series and a screening of MLK\u2019s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech. The Queen Mary is docked at 1126 Queens Highway.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In downtown Los Angeles at 3 p.m., Archbishop Jos\u00c3\u00a9 H. G\u00c3\u00b3mez celebrated a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels to honor King\u2019s the life.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In Irvine, the Pretend City Children\u2019s Museum celebrated the legacy of King \u201cwith special activities and thoughtful discussions.\u201d The event, from 10 a.m to 4 p.m., honored and celebrated \u201cBlack leaders, artists, and innovators throughout the day.\u201d The museum is located at 29 Hubble.<\/p>\n
\u2014 In Santa Ana, Reconcile Church Collective organized an Orange County MLK Breakfast at 8 a.m. The church is located at 1010 W. 17th St.<\/p>\n
MLK Day, observed on the third Monday of January, began in 1986 under President Ronald Reagan. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed a bill making MLK Day a day of service. King\u2019s actual birthday was Jan. 15, 1929. Monday marks the 97th anniversary of his birth. He was shot and killed by an assassin on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin Luther King Jr. Day was marked Monday with numerous parades, musical and cultural events and volunteer opportunities…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,10681,39734,171,21730,45228,4747],"class_list":["post-141064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-counties","tag-mark","tag-orange","tag-parades","tag-projects","tag-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}