Shasta Community Celebrates 60th Anniversary of Dr. King’s Speech

A sign outside Redding’s First United Methodist Church announces the celebration. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

August 30, 2023 9 am: We corrected the title of one of the speakers at the event.

On Saturday, August 26, the First United Methodist Church was filled with local community members gathered to celebrate one of America’s most famous speeches.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration was presented by the Shasta Beloved Community, which was also celebrating it’s ten-year anniversary as an organization. The group seeks to honor Dr. King’s enduring impact by building a network of community members who are focused on solidarity, unity, respect and equality.

The event included songs, dances, recitations and speeches, including a keynote address by America’s first undocumented attorney, Sergio Garcia, who shared his personal story of challenge and achievement.

A crowd of about 175 filled the First United Methodist Church for the celebration. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

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Jack Potter, Chairman of the Redding Rancheria, opens the celebration with a land acknowledgment. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

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The Shasta Beloved Community Choir sings Oh Happy Day.

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Community organizer Eddie McAllister. Photo by Annelise Pierce

Speaking to the audience in his quintessential deliberate manner, community organizer Eddie McAllister asked those in attendance to consider how the title of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community could apply in Shasta County today.

Community radio volunteer Dickie Magidoff shares his personal experiences of the historic March on Washington. Photo by Annelise Pierce

The Shasta Beloved Community Choir sings This Morning When I Rose.

Temple Beth Israel board member Geri Copitch. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

“Jews have long been advocates for social justice,” Geri Copitch, Board member of Temple Beth Israel, told the public during her speech. “Because we too have known injustice. Sixty years ago, Rabbi Prinz was asked to speak at the March on Washington. And he had that tricky spot of speaking just before Martin Luther King. Rabbi Prinz had been a rabbi in Germany and he had witnessed first-hand injustice, being singled out as being undesirable. There were those who said all these things were just. Because it was the law. But it was hardly just. And so sixty years ago in his speech, Rabbi Prinz said, ‘bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problems, the most disgraceful, the most shameful. The most tragic problem is silence.’ He went on to admonish that America must not become a nation of onlookers. We must not allow ourselves to be onlookers. We must speak out against injustice wherever we see it, whether it is injustice against who we identify with or not. In doing so we continue the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, what he was striving for when he gave his I have a Dream speech. There is a saying, ‘You are not required to complete the work, but neither may you desist from it.'”

Carolyn Lihn, community volunteer for NorCal Outreach.

“By recognizing the struggles faced by the LGBTQIA+ community, volunteer Carolyn Lihn told the crowd, “we amplify the message that everyone deserves to live without fear of discrimination or prejudice.”

Dr. Promila Dhanuka. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

Oncologist Dr. Promila Dhanuka also spoke to the community, advocating for California Senate Bill 403 which, she said, seeks to prohibit discrimination on the basis of caste.

Chaplain Jackie Morganfield. Photo by Annelise Pierce

Chaplain Jackie Morganfield, Executive Board Delegate for SEIU 2015, California’s largest labor union, discussed the power of intersectional and nonviolent labor movements. SEIU Local 2015 represents nearly 450,000 long-term caregivers, including almost 3,000 in Shasta County.

Sergio Garcia, America’s first undocumented attorney. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

The keynote address was given by Sergio Garcia, America’s first undocumented attorney. He shared his journey of coming to the United States, and his determination to be admitted to the bar despite numerous obstacles.

Damilola Afolabi led a five-person performance of the I Have a Dream speech.

Dancers, including Halle Johnson, Deborah Leedy, Maggie Leigh, Kathryn Noel Pearson, Shadow Renee, and Sarya Vasquez, performed during the presentation of Dr. King’s speech. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

The Shasta Beloved Community Choir sings We are Soldiers in the Army.

Those who attended the event were given a copy of the same pledge offered to participants in the March on Washington sixty years ago.

Lori McNeill led the audience in the same pledge that 250,000 people participated in during the March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Photo by Annelise Pierce.

The two-hour celebration service was followed by a multi-cultural dinner at the church. Volunteers from a number of community organizations and churches participated in the event which was sponsored by a variety of organizations.

The Shasta Beloved Community describes itself as an inclusive, solution-oriented, grassroots movement dedicated to networking and unifying relationships in our diverse community. You can find them on Facebook @SCbelovedcommunity.

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