On a day that could be overshadowed by events in Washington, the South Bay made a strong statement that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy wouldn’t be forgotten on the holiday that bears his name.
For Ebony Green, this was the year she decided to experience the celebrations taking place in San Francisco on her day off work. It was no small effort on her part. A BART station agent who lives in San Leandro, Green spent the night in San Jose so she wouldn’t be late for Caltrain’s special Celebration Train that departed Diridon Station at 9:20 a.m. She was accompanied by her mom, Linda Danzy, and her 6-year-old son, Ahmad Harris.
“He’s very excited to go,” Green said of her son. “He learned at his school about Martin Luther King, so now he gets to go see everything and I get to talk to him a little more in depth about how Martin Luther King was nonviolent and helped us get all the right we have right now. It would be a very different world if not for him.”
Caltrain spokesman Dan Lieberman said about 1,000 people had reserved free tickets on the train, which would also provide return trips Monday afternoon. The Diridon crowd — which ranged from school-age kids to senior citizens — filed onto the seven-car train, posing for photos with their commemorative tickets and carrying signs to take to San Francisco.
That kind of spirit was also on display later Monday as about 600 people gathered at San Jose State University for the African American Services Agency’s 45th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon. The packed ballroom was filled with energy, thanks in part to speakers and performers representing the next generation.
The invocation was delivered by Eli Phifer, a 15-year-old high school freshman who gave his first sermon at age 9. Amber Marie Carroll, a 17-year-old vocalist and senior at Bishop O’Dowd in Oakland, sang the Black National Hymn. And there was Tyler Gordon, the renown San Jose artist, still only 18, who painted portraits on stage of both King and Harriet Tubman.
Emcee Marcus Washington of NBC Bay Area says he has marveled at Gordon’s work around the Bay Area and beyond. “He’s done art work for so many different people, and it’s so important for us to continue to encourage this young man because he is so talented,” he said.
They were part of a lineup that included the rhythmic African dance and drums of Kuumba, the vocal talents of Lena Byrd Miles and Victoria Thuy Vi McDowell, and the powerful words of poet Prentiss Powell. The climax was a rousing keynote from the Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley, CEO of the National Council of Negro Women.
Of course, just about every elected official in the South Bay, along with a bevy of community and nonprofit leaders, were at the event held by the African American Community Services Agency in San Jose.
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee welcomed the presence of new U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo at the luncheon, noting that he chose being at the San Jose event instead of attending the inauguration of President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.
When he came to the stage, Liccardo told the audience he got an invitation to the inauguration a few weeks ago, around the same time he received an invitation to the MLK Day luncheon from African American Community Services Agency Executive Director Milan Balinton. “And I said, ‘You’re all a lot more fun,’” Liccardo told the crowd.
This year’s honorees were state Sen. Dave Cortese; Sean and Lorrianne Gardner of Bible Way Christian Church; Lennies Gutierrez, Comcast’s local director of government affairs; attorney Ruth Silver-Taube; event organizers BeAfro. The Iola M. Williams Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to longtime TV news anchor Valerie Coleman Morris and to Ocie and Mattie Tinsley, founders of the African American Heritage House.
There were more than a few remembrances at Monday’s luncheon for the Rev. Jethroe “Jeff” Moore II, the longtime leader of the San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP who died unexpectedly the day after Christmas. There was a moment of silence and a video showing Moore at his firebrand best, but the most moving tribute may have been delivered by Cortese.
Saying he choked up while watching the video of Moore, Cortese invited the crowd at San Jose State — “the house of Tommie Smith and John Carlos,” as he called it — to raise their fist in Moore’s honor, making the same Black Power salute the Olympic champions did on the medal stand in Mexico City in ’68. The crowd did just that.
“Hosting this event today on a day of national transition serves as poignant reminder of the enduring value of our democratic processes,” San Jose State President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said. It also reminds us of leaders like Dr. King who advocated for change in the face of resistance and with leaders whose values he did not always share. His courage and commitment to justice set an example for us all, especially in times of challenge and division.”