Thousands attend Palo Alto ‘Dream’ celebration

Singing songs of freedom and a rousing rendition of the civil rights song “We Shall Overcome,” thousands of people linked arms and celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Palo Alto on Monday night, Aug. 26.

The 4-hour event, which included a speech by farm-worker union leader Dolores Huerta and tributes to singer-activist Joan Baez and King’s personal lawyer Clarence Jones, brought together people of all races. Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff also spoke at the event.

In one of the most revealing tributes to King’s legacy, dozens of people stood and stated the names of the organizations they represent that carry on King’s dream today: Project We Hope, Youth United for Community Action in East Palo Alto, American Civil Liberties Union, the National Council for Negro Women and Church Women United, to name a few.

Clayborne Carson, executive director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, noted Palo Alto’s special connection to King, who spoke twice at the university. Carson was hand-picked by King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, to edit the civil rights leader’s papers. The Institute has published six volumes of King’s works and numerous other books on the civil rights leader.

“Within a mile of where we are is the largest source of information on Martin Luther King in the world,” Carson said of the Institute, which includes King’s original copy of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom program, on which Jones wrote a message during the 1963 march.

The celebration, which was held in King Plaza outside City Hall, was sponsored by the City of Palo Alto and Stanford’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. It was funded by Palo Alto developer and philanthropist Jim Baer.

“I’ve lived in Palo Alto for 30 years, and I’ve never been more proud of this city. This celebrates all the ways in which King’s legacy connects with us,” said Carson, who was 19 years old when he attended the 1963 March on Washington.

Huerta recalled the mood of the nation in the 1960s when she marched peacefully in Memphis, Tenn., after King’s 1968 assassination. The marchers were silent, but one could feel the hostility around them. Troops flanked the march route.

“They were so close you could touch the bayonets,” she said.

Today, King’s dream of an equal nation is still not realized, Huerta said, pointing to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down some provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as an example of the erosion of the rights for which so many people fought and died during the Civil Rights Movement.

Huerta exhorted the crowd to continue King’s work.

“Justice is the public face of love. Injustice is the public face of hate,” she said.