Fort Collins comes together: More than 1,500 participate in annual MLK Day march

More than 1,500 people gathered Monday in Fort Collins to march in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the principles he stood for, with about 250 sticking around afterward for live music and a keynote speech at Colorado State University by Denver artist and activist JC Futrell, who uses the stage name Panama Soweto.

Students, teachers and staff from Colorado State University and Poudre School District, city of Fort Collins and Larimer County employees — who all had the day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day — elected officials and hundreds of other community members marched along closed streets from downtown Fort Collins to CSU.

“I think it’s important to just keep alive and be loud about what goes on around the world and remember what Dr. King did for us, keep it living on,” said Daniel Mbadinga, a Black 15-year-old Rocky Mountain High School student who was walking with two of his high school basketball teammates, Avantae Hood and Xavier Harris, who are also Black.

“I think it’s very important for my culture to support and recognize everyone who’s fought for us,” said Hood, 16.

Families were pushing strollers, a few people walked with leashed dogs and dozens held signs supporting racial and social justice high above their heads as the walked from Washington Square Park north to Cherry Street, west to Meldrum Avenue and south to CSU’s Lory Student Center. People talked as they walked and participated in a handful of chants.

A formal crowd count was not immediately available from Fort Collins police, who were manning roadblocks along the route, but one officer said they were told to expect more than 1,500 participants. A quick scan of the crowd by a Coloradoan reporter during the march confirmed there were at least that many participants, if not hundreds more.

Organizers introduced 15 or so “march leaders” involved in racial and social justice and equity issues in Fort Collins during a brief ceremony beforehand. The march leaders — Ludy Rueda and Dolores Mata of Poudre River Public Library District; Michael Buttram and Roe Bubar of CSU; Daniela Tijerina Benner and Natalie Brown of SummitStone Health Partners; Aparna Palmer, interim president of Front Range Community College’s Larimer Campus; Monica Baucke and Marisa Olivas of the city of Fort Collins; Aloha Arceo Apitz from Poudre High School and student facilitators and staff sponsors from a Youth Diversity Conference at Rocky Mountain High School. All were nominated by colleagues within their organizations.

Olivas’ husband, Chavez Duke, was pushing their 2 ½-year-old daughter in a stroller as he marched with his wife.

He wanted to join in as a person of color “within a community and obviously standing in support for what (MLK Day) is supposed to represent and trying to integrate and be a better part of the community and just, in general, to see what type of support the community also has and encourages. To see how people of different racial groups actually come together and support such a cause.”

Fort Collins Mayor Jeni Arndt gave a brief welcome speech beforehand, and CSU student Breonna Abuya gave a short speech about a fictional young black man, using facts from real-life situations, whose life was turned upside down at a young age because of racial and social injustice.

Marchers included CSU interim President Rick Miranda and incoming President Amy Parsons; Poudre School District Superintendent Brian Kingsley and several members of the PSD Board of Education; several city councilmembers, Larimer County commissioners John Kefalas and Kristin Stephens, state Rep. Cathy Kipp and several other elected representatives.

Stephens, who is also a local 4-H leader, and friend Katie Piccolo were walking with 11 members of the club who began the day participating in an MLK Day service project at the Lory Student Center, where they assembled care packages to be distributed to the homeless by Homeward Alliance.

“We just feel like it’s important to be part of our community and do things for the community and give back and show up for people,” Piccolo said.

Isadore Robles, 23, was marching with members of his Latino fraternity, Sigma Lambda Beta, which grew out of a historically black fraternity, he said.

“Without them, we wouldn’t be here today,” Robles said. “(King) preached a lot of the principles that our fraternity stands for. We need to come together as a unit, as a community, and stand united against violence for nonviolence, our voting rights, civil rights, those principles.

“Being a part of this fraternity has been an eye-opener for me, and I just want to give back to the community of Fort Collins and everyone in it.”

Building community was cited by several participants as a reason they chose to march.

Bolu Folarin was marching with friend and fellow CSU student Lexi Johnson. The 22-year-old Black women both work with CSU’s Black/African American Cultural Center, one of the primary organizers of Fort Collins’ annual MLK Day march.

“One of the things that I live by is injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, which is one of Dr. MLK’s quotes, and I think it’s always important to show up where it matters,” Folarin said. “Instead of just being at home, why not march for something that was so important many years ago and is still prevalent today.”

Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins' Martin Luther King Jr. Day march draws more than 1,500