“We will walk together for what is right; with compassion, justice and resilience.”
That is what Laurene Weste, mayor of the city of Santa Clarita, said to the sea of people on the sun-soaked Monday morning at Central Park.
The community gathered to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a unity walk, and people from various walks of life joined.
Throughout the early-morning ceremony, various groups performed all kinds of music for the crowd, and Valencia High School’s choir sang the national anthem. After the ceremony, Golden Valley High School’s drumline led the unity walk with drumbeats echoing throughout the park and the crowd following behind.
Abi Wurdeman and Peter Tran, Santa Clarita residents who had just moved to the area, enjoyed the idea of the community coming together for an important cause.
“To be able to connect with our neighbors and see our similarities and also appreciate our differences. And so that’s something I value always,” Wurdeman said. “I think right now, especially just everything that’s happening in the country, I had a desire to be out within my own community and to connect with my neighbors and to feel like we were seeing and appreciating each other.”
“His (Martin Luther King Jr.) message of unity and community and I think his legacy of bringing everyone together to try to create some positive change. I think it’s worth celebrating. And it’s great that Santa Clarita has an event like this,” Tran said.
Cherise Moore, a member of the William S. Hart Union High School District governing board, said she helped create the unity walk five years ago and this year the planning committee wanted to include something different.
“So, we are celebrating Dr. King’s legacy in a new and powerful way by engaging our youth through our inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. essay contest. It’s efforts like this that truly are going to leave us here changed because it is the young people who are going to help move us forward,” Moore said to the crowd. “They are willing to take risks, lead with courage, and imagine a better way forward as they will challenge us to do better.”
The students who won were able to read excerpts from their winning essays.
Valerie Bradford, a Santa Clarita resident, said she was moved by the number of people in attendance, saying the event gets bigger every year.
“And so, I am excited to see everyone out today. I’m excited for the representation, and I’m excited that we are operating in unity, and as I said earlier on a post, unity doesn’t have to be famous,” Bradford said. “It means that we decided to come together, across our differences, and unite on this one cause, and this will make our city and our country better.”
On the walk, people could choose a 1.1-mile walk or a 0.6-mile route. Bradford called it amazing to see.
“And for me, an individual that lived during much of what he taught, and preached about, to see that we are still respecting that, that we are still honoring that. It is an amazing feeling,” Bradford added.
At the end of the ceremony, Weste thanked everyone for coming together and highlighted some moments in King’s life.
“I want to say that Martin Luther King (Jr.) didn’t just change America. He changed the world. He received the Nobel Peace Prize while he was lying in bed. He got a phone call because it was so exhausted from working, carrying the mission,” Weste said. “He was a great man, a great leader, and we owe so much to him. To today, we’re going to walk together strongly with his memory, so he is never forgotten. And I thank you all for being here.”
