Affirmation anything is possible

For Bandov, a 12th-grade student, the gathering proved a rare opportunity for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together.

“I feel like it’s one of those days where like we get to celebrate each other instead of like hating on each other,” she said.

Aimed at paying tribute to King’s 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, the free train ride made stops in Palo Alto and San Mateo before dropping passengers off in San Francisco, where Suchite, Eskariyat and Bandov planned to join hundreds more in a march and other activities in King’s honor.

Though Zahra Gayle, a sixth-grader at Castilleja School in Palo Alto, wasn’t planning to get on the train this year, she and several members of her family were excited to see her grandmother and executive director of the East Palo Alto-based nonprofit Girls to Women, Patricia Foster, be named the 2018 honorary chairperson at the 19th annual celebration at the San Mateo stop. Gayle said it was important to spend time remembering King’s work so she and others could continue carrying out his principles.

“If you don’t know what he did and how he helped, then it’s hard for us to also help,” she said.

Gayle was joined by her sister Sulia Gayle and her cousins Ana Walker and Rubi Ojany, who agreed that the singing has been their favorite part of the event Monday and in previous years when they attended. Leading the group in the black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “We Shall Overcome,” Foster City resident Marie Davis said seeing a high level of participation in this year’s event, with more young families and people from different backgrounds than she’s seen in previous years, was encouraging. As former president of the San Mateo chapter of the NAACP, Davis has been involved with the event for several years and said this year’s response to King’s work has been unlike any other year.

“People are willing to stay and talk,” she said. “You feel the joy and … it seems like the children, the people, are just appreciating Dr. King. Maybe it took 50 years for them to really appreciate him and to realize that he gave his life.”

Davis remembered the effect King’s presence had on those gathered at an event she at the Denver Convention Center decades earlier, noting the hush that overtook the crowd when he walked into the room. Though Davis and her friend and fellow NAACP member Terry McDowell, a San Mateo resident, have been involved in events commemorating King every January, Davis said she has been especially busy with events in his honor this year, 50 years after his 1968 assassination.

Having judged at the 35th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay, Poetry and Art Contest held at San Mateo’s Martin Luther King Community Center last week, McDowell said it’s been wonderful to see parents helping their children understand the difference between how people of various backgrounds were treated during King’s lifetime and how they are treated today.

“It wasn’t always like this,” she said. “We can ride the bus now, we can ride the train now … we don’t have separate water fountains. People are trying to unite and come together and this is just affirmation that anything is possible.”

Though Menlo Park resident Peter Ojany has been to the event for the past four years, revisiting King’s work and its impact on others year after year is what makes the event meaningful for him and his family. Acknowledging the hard work required to uphold King’s messages, Peter Ojany said the events and others like it serve as a reminder to continue his work.

“We have to remind ourselves that … we always have to work at the good side of things,” he said.

As the father of 5-year-old Rubi Ojany, Peter Ojany said the event also proved to be a learning opportunity for his daughter so she could better understand the history and hard work behind what she experiences today.

“In many ways [Rubi]’s lucky to be where she is,” he said. “But it takes work and it’s something that everybody has to take part in.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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