Events Set to Mark King’s Birthday

An 11-day program of events in Los Angeles to honor the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. began Friday with a City Hall reception honoring the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization King founded as he began his struggle in the 1950s.

The events will culminate Jan. 18 with the Kingdom Day Parade in Central Los Angeles and a King birthday celebration dinner at the Bonaventure.

King was born Jan. 15, 1929, but since 1986 his birthday has been celebrated as a federal holiday on the third Monday in January. Forty-two states, including California, also designate the day as a holiday, closing government offices.

‘Struggle Must Go On’

At a press conference hosted by Mayor Tom Bradley, the Rev. James Lawson Jr., president of the Los Angeles chapter of SCLC, said he hopes King’s birthday is celebrated “by insisting that the struggle must go on.”

Lawson referred to a proposal made by the mayor’s office Thursday to spend more than $2 billion in redevelopment funds over the next two decades to help house the city’s homeless as “precisely the meaning of the day.”

The events sponsored by the SCLC’s Martin Luther King Legacy Assn. include:

- An open house from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday at the SCLC’s office, 4182 S. Western Ave.

- An $8-a-plate interfaith prayer breakfast at 8 a.m. Wednesday at Trinity Baptist Church, 2040 W. Jefferson Blvd.

- A $20-a-plate breakfast with labor and civil rights leaders at 8:30 a.m. Friday at the Sheraton Town House, 2961 Wilshire Blvd.

- Numerous observances by churches and temples during a three-day period beginning Friday, with religious leaders employing packets prepared by SCLC.

- An art and essay contest with the theme of “Choosing Nonviolence Over Gang Violence,” with winners honored from 1 to 4 p.m. Jan. 16, at the California Afro-American Museum, 600 State Drive in Exposition Park.

- The birthday dinner celebration at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at the Bonaventure, 404 S. Figueroa St.

This is the 11th year that SCLC has sponsored events in tribute to King.

The Jan. 18 Kingdom Day Parade, sponsored by the National Cultural Foundation, a local nonprofit group, was first held in 1986 to mark the first national King’s birthday holiday.

The three-mile parade will begin at 11 a.m. at Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards. It will feature 12 bands, 10 floats and 20 drill teams.