On MLK Day, nearly 200 people march for unity in downtown Paso Robles

Rain showers didn’t stop nearly 200 people of all races, ages and genders from gathering in Downtown City Park in Paso Robles on Monday to commemorate the life and legacy of pioneering civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Unity Walk 2022 kicked off at noon with the Pledge of Allegiance, in honor of King’s belief in the American system, organizers said.

Next, Paso Robles Councilman Fred Strong welcomed marchers and spoke about his relationship with the civil rights leader, who he worked with on authoring the original civil rights legislation that was not passed, but laid the foundation for the future.

“He was always polite, never angry but he was always firm and very principled,” Strong said of King.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Denise Isom, who teaches about Black identify and education at Cal Poly.

“The rain is testing our commitment to justice today,” said Isom as the rain clouds opened up. She took shelter under the Downtown City Park gazebo and read a moving poem titled “A Stone of Hope” about the radical nature of hope and Black joy, despite the legacy of slavery and generations of discrimination.

After about 30 minutes of remarks from community leaders, the crowd held their flags high and walked to the sound of bagpipes through Downtown City Park, up Spring Street and around again.

Although the crowd wasn’t as large as previous years, longtime event organizer Lovella Walker said she is grateful to everyone who turned out to show their support for unity in Paso Robles, in spite of the rain.

Monday’s event was the first Martin Luther King Jr. Day programming the City has been able to host in two years after the previous two events were canceled due to COVID-19, the organizers said.

“The time is now and that’s what we need to find healing ... but the time is now,” said Juanetta Perkins, who has lived in Paso Robles all her life.

The 2022 Unity Walk was a little different from previous years. Instead of being inside, it was outdoors, and the event was hosted by the City of Paso Robles and two new partners — the Paso Diversity Panel and the Paso DEI Education Committee, with support from the Paso Robles school district.

“There’s a lot of power in that — in being able to walk as a community — because we all live here, and this is everybody’s community,” said Susana López, an assistant professor in child psychology at Cal Poly and a member of the Paso DEI Education Committee.

The theme of this year’s event was “to bridge that which divides us,” and organizers of the event and marchers said this message for diversity and inclusion couldn’t have come at a better time.

“I think events like this will help, and eventually the community will embody or embrace Martin’s message of diversity,” said Walker, an administrative assistant with the City of Paso Robles and a member of the Paso Robles Diversity Panel. “That’s why we are trying to come together as three organizations to try to bring unity in the community.”

North County has become more divided but the community is hopeful

The North County has become more polarized and divided in recent years, said event organizers and participants.

“I think the town is horribly divided,” said Sondra Williams, a member of the Paso Robles Diversity Panel.

“There’s no signs saying ‘white only’ and maybe we have come to have some progress, but still anyone who lives in North County knows and feels the divide,” Williams said.

One of the hot spots for tension has been at Paso Robles High School after a series of bias-motivated incidents prompted concerned parents and community members to create the Paso Robles DEI Education Committee, López said.

“For me, it’s personal,” said Juanetta Perkins, who attended the event with her daughter and French bulldog puppy. “Because my daughter has a lot of trouble with racism in the PRHS school district.”

Perkins said progress in Paso Robles would start with educating young schoolchildren about treating people with kindness.

The tension in the community and in the school district prompted Sondra Williams and others on the Paso Robles Diversity Panel to host a town hall discussion last November.

More than 100 community members showed up to the event, which Williams said demonstrated that the majority of people in Paso Robles want to feel united as a community.

“I honestly feel like people are genuinely coming from a place of good, and regardless of whatever picture gets painted, I honestly think the majority of people in Paso Robles want to be unified again,” Williams said.

How Paso Robles High School celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations started on Thursday under the theme “The Power of Kindness,” with walk organizers and City representatives visiting Paso Robles High School to share the civil rights leader’s mission.

Walker said the kindness theme was selected because “... there has been so much divisions and hate going on at the high school.”

“We took our program to reach the students at the high school. We talked about the power of kindness,” she said.

About 150 high school students participated in the programming, watching a biography of the civil rights leader and his iconic “I Had a Dream Speech.” The teens also participated in an interactive quiz competition based on the films, Walker said.

The quiz competition winners received prizes, and the participants signed a pledged to be kind and received plastic wristbands with “the power of kindness” written on it, she said.

The Paso Robles High School drama club also put on a skit about racially motivated bullying and name-calling as part of “The Power of Kindness” theme, Walker said.

“The tongue is one of the most powerful weapons a person can use and so use that tongue for good to uplift them,” she said.

History of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in Paso Robles

Paso Robles was one of the first cities in San Luis Obispo County to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a community event, said Lovella Walker, who has helped plan programming for the city since 2007.

The first Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration happened in Paso Robles in 1990 after a young Black man that Walker knew came to the city and pointed out that there was no celebration for people of color, she said.

The city got a few people together, and they decided to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, she said. The seminal event drew a crowd of about 450 people.

Over time, the event grew, and about six years ago the city partnered with the Paso Robles school district to develop child-friendly programming around Martin Luther King Jr.’s mission and the civil rights era, she said.

The events for younger schoolchildren, which typically involves arts and crafts competitions, were scaled-back due to the coronavirus pandemic and only involved “The Power of Kindness” programming for the high school, she said.

That didn’t stop youngsters from coming out to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.

Gaylene Ewing, a Paso Robles resident, and her 5-year-old son, Jupiter, came to Monday’s event for many reasons, she said, among them: “to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and be part of a community that’s still fighting for justice.”

“Martin Luther King Jr.’s work is not done.”