PORT ANGELES — The rain held off long enough for a group of about 30 to pay homage to Martin Luther King Jr. on what would have been his 82nd birthday Saturday in an hourlong rally at Veterans Park in Port Angeles.
Several speakers used the occasion to denounce racial profiling, cuts to social services, immigration policy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The event was organized by Stop the Checkpoints, Clallam County Green Party, Olympic Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, Veterans for Peace, Service Employees International Union, Port Angeles Radical Women and Clallam County MoveOn.
A planned downtown march to the state Department of Social and Health Services building was canceled in lieu of a candlelight vigil at Veterans Park.
“I’m African, Native American, European, Hispanic, and there’s a rumor that there’s some Asian in my family,” said Robery Lilly, a former caregiver who grew up in Alabama.
“I’m an American. I’m an American.
“We need to concentrate more on our similarities than our differences.”
Eddy Hayes, who immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines when she was 18, spoke on behalf of the SEIU Healthcare 775 Northwest and on behalf of immigrants.
“We are not asking a lot,” Hayes said.
“We’re just asking for the piece of a pie of American ways.”
Hayes said there is a backlog of unopened applications for U.S. citizenship.
Dan Lieberman played guitar and sang “We Shall Overcome” and other songs with Tim Wheeler, master of ceremonies, before, during and after the event.
The rally was dotted with signs that read “Honk for Peace,” “We All Live in Tucson,” and “Health Care Not War Fare.”
Many drivers on Lincoln Street honked in support.
Wheeler said King died leading a movement that was reaching out to a majority of the nation.
“When he died, those who killed him knew what they were doing,” Wheeler said.
“They were attempting to destroy that movement that Dr. King had built. And they set us back a long way in that assassination.
“I regard this movement here as the beginning of the rebuilding.”
Wheeler referred to the deadly shootings in Tucson, Ariz., earlier this month that occurred as U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords held a meet-and-greet with constituents.
“The climate of hate that we see in Arizona — fanned by those who call for the use of guns to change the political discourse in this country — we will not be intimidated by them,” Wheeler said.
“We are going to continue the fight to build the beloved community that Dr. King gave his life fighting for.”
The list of speakers included Marion “Honeybee” Burns and Wayne Ostlund, both of whom attended the 1963 March on Washington where King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.
“When I got back from Washington, D.C., and went back to school, I got hazed for having gone in Sequim, Wash.,” Burns said.
“Basically, I wanted to be a part of history.”
Ostlund said: “Martin Luther King had a dream, and unfortunately, a lot of that dream has yet to be realized.”
Bill Kildall, Clallam County MoveOn coordinator, framed his remarks with the phrase “you’re in the right place now.”
“If you believe we must demand an end to repression, greed, prejudice, inequality, exploitation and violence against others — even on the playground or in our neighborhoods or in the conduct of state and federal and local governmental affairs, both domestic and abroad — then you believe, as Dr. King did, that those last six antisocial behaviors have no place in his vision for our society,” Kildall said.
“We must stand together and lift each other up by putting the well-being of people before private profit if we are to have a just and brighter future for our children.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.