King Day march in S.F. ends after 24 years
Saturday, January 16, 2010
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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday will be celebrated this weekend in San Francisco with the usual array of hotel breakfasts that double as community fundraisers ($75 a plate) and events like the Freedom Train ride from San Jose ($10).
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What won't take place, however, is the large rally in Civic Center that had been held for 24 years to honor the slain civil rights leader.
Nor will the Rev. Cecil Williams march along Market Street.
The local civil rights activist was the longtime chairman of the Northern California Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Observance Committee. But after more than two decades of planning San Francisco's annual celebration, the group abruptly disbanded in December.
Williams and four board members cited declining participant numbers over the years and sensed it was time to pass the torch to younger activists.
"A lot of us who spent many, many years marching outside have moved inside," said the 80-year-old Williams, head of the Glide Foundation in the Tenderloin. "We've been out there for a long time, and we decided we were ready to pull back and let the new leadership emerge."
For nearly a quarter century, the committee organized a march along Market Street that led to a rally in Civic Center Plaza where people heard music and listened to speakers. Last year was the first year organizers skipped the march and held a smaller gathering at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
Although there's no central event this year, Williams directed people to smaller community celebrations, including a Monday afternoon gathering at the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument in Yerba Buena Gardens.
Glide Memorial is also hosting a morning of speeches, poetry and music.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for a good march," Williams said. "But we saw the tide was turning and people weren't so engrossed with marching anymore."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/16/BA791BIUSD.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0cnha9kDx
