Dream time
Area celebrates King's legacy, looks toward future

Hundreds of marchers make their way down Historic Route 66 for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade in Gallup on Monday. The parade culminated with speakers and an award ceremony. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Gaye Brown de Alvarez
and Karen Francis
Staff writers

More than 300 people marched from the Gallup Cultural Center to the Larry Brian Mitchell Recreation Center, Monday, to celebrate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 80th birthday and the election of Barack Obama.

There were people of all colors. The weather was beautiful. Many people took the microphone before the parade started and said a few words. Gallup resident Jamal Jawad, wearing his keffiyah and holding the hands of his young daughters, spoke for a couple of minutes, asking the crowd to remember the deaths of innocent people in the Gaza Strip. The crowd carried signs that said “No More War,” and carried photos of King. They were led by the Gallup High School JrROTC color guard.

It was a special day in Gallup. It was the 13th annual Martin Luther King celebration, sponsored by the Gallup Unit NAACP, the city of Gallup, St. Paul Baptist Church, Howard Chapel Church, McKinley County Retired Senior Volunteers Program, Connections, the N.M. state office of Dr. MLK, the chamber of commerce, Castle Furniture, Gallup High School ROTC, Gallup High School Choir and the Stewards of Creation.

The large crowd recited the Pledge of Allegiance, listened to Bridget Bailey of the Gallup High School Choir give a stirring rendition of the national anthem, heard the Gallup High School Choir, directed by Roy Stubbs sing “Lift Every Dream” and “We Shall Not Be Moved,” ate cake and cookies, listened to prayers by local pastors and reverends and celebrated the legacy of the great Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Mona Frazier, president of the Gallup chapter of the NAACP told the crowd. “We are proud today.”

Patrick Moore, drama teacher at Gallup High School, stood and watched the speakers at the recreation center.

“It’s a day that I never thought I would see,” Moore said. “Sometimes it’s hard to even talk about it.”

City Councilor Pat Butler joined the crowd at the recreation center. “This shows the unity in the city of Gallup and the diversity of cultures. That we are all able to get together and honor this great moment in history.”

Tenneca Money, 17, of Gallup said Monday and Tuesday’s celebrations “means more freedom for us. For everybody.”

Her sister Shantell Money, 19, said “Now everyone is equal and free to do what they want. I guess change and new things are coming.”

Janee Sheridan, 15, said that the night of the election, after it was apparent that Obama had won, her whole family of 15, who are African-American descent were sitting around the TV. “We were all crying,” Sheridan said.

“My mom, who is 55 years old said she never thought she would see this day.”

In Window Rock, community members gathered to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day with educational presentations, brainstorming sessions and a march to the Navajo Nation capital.

A few participants reflected on having a part of King’s dream of racial harmony fulfilled with the inauguration of the first black U.S. president.

“I think it will help things that are going bad in America. It’s just a different experience,” Lenandra Willie, an eighth-grader at Wingate Middle School, said.

At last year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, organizer Sonlatsa Jim-Martin said she had no idea that a black man would be preparing to be inaugurated as the president of the United States within a year. In fact, she had barely heard of him, but she joined his campaign in January last year.

“For me, I’ve just been getting chills all the time when I look at the news of the inauguration,” she said.

Even if he didn’t win the race for president, it would have been progress for him to make it as a top contender, she said.

Jim-Martin said that it was a day to recognize the civil rights movement that King was associated with.

“There were a lot of Native Americans involved in the civil rights movement you don’t ever hear about,” she said. “To me, it gives me a sense of pride to make that connection.”

As part of activities for the 9th annual public forum in honor of King, a report documenting participants’ thoughts and recommendations on discrimination was developed to send to the Barack Obama administration and to the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission.

Participants split into groups after hearing presentations and gaining information about civil rights to talk about ways they or people they know have experienced discrimination and what they did about it.

Young students and adults alike shared experiences that they knew about where discrimination took place. They spoke about the different ways they felt discriminated against and identified types of discrimination. Then they spoke about how they and others reacted in those situations.

Some people said they reacted with feelings of anger, sadness or powerlessness. Some relied on their families or friends for support. Others spoke up for themselves.
Clifford Jack said, “For me, I used to feel angry.”

Then he turned his feelings into empowerment — an idea that the young people in his group particularly liked.

Jack, from Shiprock, had a display at the gathering. He works on domestic violence issues and attended the public forum to see how he could address it as a civil rights issue.

“That’s how I view domestic violence — as discrimination,” he said.

Willie said she was at the gathering “because it was the right thing to do.”

A member of the Walking In Beauty program that promotes leadership skills among young women, she came to learn about King and “to learn how to help ourselves as Native Americans to have better education and better lives in the future.”

Some solutions to discrimination that were mentioned during group discussions were to report to proper authorities, hold more public forums, use media to educate, hold demonstrative marches, hold public cultural celebrations in border towns, make culture an everyday elective for students, and emphasize Native American history in public schools.

In addition to the activities, this was the first year that people were recognized for their contributions to the MLK Day event. Anna Rondon and Lenny Foster were recognized for their contributions to the annual public forum.

Participants concluded the day’s activities with a march from the Diné Restaurant to the Navajo Nation capital.