Yesterday morning, thousands gathered amid a thick fog at Sacramento City College. They were there not on a whim, but rather to honor a powerful legacy, that of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Before commencing a march to the Convention Center, those in attendance listened as SCUSD School Board member Chinua Rhodes; Congresswoman Doris Matsui; the mayors of Sacramento, Elk Grove, and West Sac; and many other community figures shared what MLK’s accomplishments mean to them and all the more so what they mean for all of us here and now.
After a beautiful performance by a local singer, the crowd took off for the Convention Center. The procession possessed a positively bright, inspiring energy, despite the cold weather and dark times. Marchers conversed; they danced and sang together, too. In one such moment, we approached the Capitol building just as Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” spilled forth from the speakers. This powerful civil rights anthem evokes the struggle against discrimination and inequality. It’s a reminder, today and beyond, that this struggle for change is not yet complete.
Most important of all—as ICE pervades our communities, families are ripped apart, and people of color are profiled at a heightened rate—this march symbolized a resistance that stemmed, in large part, from the joy of coming together despite fears. The violence that is taking shape as a result of ICE’s intrusion into cities like Minneapolis, Chicago, LA, and our own (including the deaths of community members like Renée Good), means to strike fear and deter us from assembling, as is our constitutional right.
However, as was frequently encouraged by event organizers, now is the time to double down on our commitment to our communities and to each other. Now is the time to establish connections with those around us—to meet and make friends and companions, regardless of whether they look or think identically to ourselves.
That is what Dr. King would have hoped for us in this pivotal moment of history: to dig deep and come together for intersectional justice. Because until there is justice, there will be “NO PEACE!”
