San Mateo County celebrates MLK

Maya Perkins, the emcee and one of the organizers of the event, opened the ceremony by reciting one of her favorite quotes by King. 

“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but it comes through continuous struggle,” she quoted.

Perkins went on to remind the audience of America’s attitude toward King when he began to get noticed and how that attitude changed over time.

“As many of us know, Martin Luther King was a radical. In his day he was not widely accepted, it was not polite to talk about him or to embrace his ideas,” she said and listed a number of polls conducted in the early 1960s that suggest as much. “How did Dr. King go from being surveiled by Attorney General Robert Kennedy to having celebrations throughout the United States? People like all of us chose that continuous struggle and we chose it because we know change isn’t just going to happen by itself, but it’s something that we have to sacrifice for.” 

Perkins went on to present the Dorothy Boyajian Teacher Award to Konstance Kirkendoll, a local teacher who “reflects the teaching role of Dr. King and his commitment to equality.”

Kirkendoll has taught at Beechwood School in Menlo Park for more than eight years, where she leads a service learning program that revolves around social justice issues important to her students, including homelessness, literacy, immigration, the environment and community building.

“Through her teaching, Konstance exposes the students to the importance of working with those around them to create meaningful change in the world. The students are learning to advocate for justice in Dr. King’s footsteps,” Perkins said.

Kirkendoll was followed by a celebration of LifeMoves, which provides housing and services for homeless people. The nonprofit was named the “honorary organization” of the event.   

“Among so many things, Dr. King was a crusader in anti-poverty and a few weeks before he was assassinated he was working on the poor peoples campaign,” said Brian Greenberg, vice president of programs and services.

Greenberg added that unsheltered homelessness has gone down every year for the past five years in San Mateo County.

“Housing should be available to us all and it’s perfectly reasonable to have housing for people of all income levels in all neighborhoods,” Perkins said, before introducing the event’s Honorary Chair: Marie Davis. 

“Marie is a lifelong advocate for change so when Dr. King talks about change not being inevitable but something that involves continuous struggle, Marie embodies that,” Perkins said. “She is an artist, a singer, musician and poetress and she shares her message of justice in her art.”

Davis was also president of the San Mateo NAACP for 10 years and a staple of San Mateo MLK day celebrations.

Davis recalled meeting King in person in the 1960s at the National Baptist Conference. 

“I remember when he walked in and my first impression was that he’s short,” she recalled. “And then I realized that the whole crowd of thousands stood in silence as he walked in and I said ‘my goodness who is this man’ it was like Jesus walking in.”

That’s when Davis learned about King’s dedication to his work, she said, and followed the anecdote by reading a poem she wrote shortly after he was killed in 1968. Davis’ son Garrick Davis accompanied her on guitar.

The speeches were bookended by group singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” also known as the Black National Anthem, “We Shall Overcome” and Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday to Ya.” Following the reception, many in attendance boarded Caltrain to continue the celebration in San Francisco.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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