Organizations throughout California have already kicked off King Week and several others are making last-minute preparations as they recognize the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., who would have turned 80 years old Thursday. Given current events, as King is commemorated, President-elect Barack Obama’s name is sure to follow; and with Obama set to be sworn into office on Tuesday, many are taking this opportunity to link the past with the present.

The L.A. chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization co-founded by King and dedicated to his teachings, kicked off King Week with a press conference at the steps of Los Angeles City Hall Jan. 9, where Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and several council members acknowledged King’s efforts.

The following day, they held their annual multifaith prayer breakfast at Holman United Methodist Church, featuring a performance by the Jeffrey Coprich-led L.A. Inner City Mass Choir.

On Monday, the organization co-hosted a forum and resource fair with the L.A. City Commission on the Status of Women, which incorporated King’s belief in the elimination of classism, sexism and racism.

On Thursday, the organization completes King Week with its 32nd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Dinner Celebration and Gala at the Downtown Biltmore Hotel. The event will double as a pre-inauguration party, joining the accomplishments of both King and Obama. It begins at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are $200 per person.

“This year has a special significance because we have elected Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the United States,” said Rev. Eric Lee, President and CEO of SCLC-L.A. “It’s the partial realization of Dr. King’s dream, not the full realization because we still have millions of people who are suffering from poverty, we still have millions of African-American students dropping out of high school because of an unequal educational system, we still have African-American men who have the highest unemployment rate of any people in this country, we still have the highest rate of incarceration, yet we only make up 10 percent of the population. So, there is still a lot for us to do.”
He added: “The election of Barack Obama is a testament to the maturation of our country when it comes to race relations, but there is still much to be done when it comes to classism and I think that’s where Dr. King was headed when he started the Poor People’s Campaign in 1967, that [said] any able-bodied person who desired to work should have a job — a livable wage job with benefits. …

“If he were alive today, I think he would tell Barack Obama ‘we’re proud of his accomplishments but until we can lift up all oppressed peoples than the election of an African-American is nothing more than window dressing. You change the window but the contents of the store stay the same.”

On Jan. 17, Culver City, which in recent years has experienced a growth in its African-American population, will have a viewing and discussion of the documentary, “The Promised Land,” at 6 p.m., followed by a musical tribute.

The following day, beginning at noon, the Cultural Celebration Marketplace will feature artifacts and products from the African Diaspora. Then at 2 p.m., a group of high school students will share what they experienced while visiting national sites as will they speak of analyze the civil rights struggle in “Sojourn to the Past.” A theatrical interpretation of the play, “The Meeting,” will take place at 4 p.m.

Bill Wynn, chair of the MLK Planning Committee in Culver City, could not recognize King without noting the accomplishments of president-elect Barack Obama. He said, “they are very intelligent men who are visionaries, they can get people to follow them and they have a mission. Dr. King had a mission and I think president Obama has a mission too.”

Both days’ events will be held at the Culver City Senior Citizens Center, 4095 Overland Ave. Events are free and open to the public. Contact Bill Wynn at (213) 300-1194.

On Monday, the annual Kingdom Day Parade will take place, with more than 150 floats, 20 drill teams, 10 dance groups, marching bands and street vendors.
The parade begins at 10 a.m. on Martin Luther King Boulevard and Western Avenue, then proceeds west to Crenshaw Boulevard where it turns south and ends around 4 p.m. at Vernon Avenue in front of Leimert Park.

One float participant is Donate Life, which is dedicated to organ and tissue donation. This year will be the organization’s third parade entry but only its second float. The first time around they entered two cars, then last year they entered a float themed “The Gift of Life Around the World.”

The theme of this year’s float is “Legacies on the Tree of Life.” It took a month to complete the 39-foot long, 14-foot-high float, which will hold 12 riders, including organ and tissue recipients as well as ambassadors of the cause.
A bridge In the center of the float is met by an archway on one end and a tree with multi-colored leaves on the other.

“Selected leaves will be dedicated in the memory of either recipients of a donor or a donor family,” said Ralph Sutton, African-American Community Development coordinator with Donate Life. “The bridge basically represents a path for those leaving a life-saving legacy by the way of organ and tissue donation to nourish the tree and the tie-in with the theme is that … legacies on the tree of life are a connection to Dr. King’s vision for a color-blind global community inspired by the desire to help one another.”

Also on Monday, the Los Angeles Inter Alumni Council, an umbrella group of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) which represents 40 black colleges, will be holding its 20th anniversary Martin Luther King Day Breakfast at the Proud Bird, 11022 Aviation Blvd., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $35 and parking is free. Entertainment will also be available.

Here, alumni from black colleges around the country will join to speak about the relevance of black colleges, how activists like King made it possible for these educational facilities to exist as they paved the way for President-elect Barack Obama to soon serve in the Oval Office.

The upcoming inauguration ceremony is “part [of the] fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream and it means the continuation of the pursuit of excellence, which is what HBCU’s always stood for and that’s what Dr. King stood for,” said Meta Williams, interim director of the Fund Development and Communications Department with the Los Angeles Urban League. “To now Barack Obama usher in a new era of what it means to be an American. We all have a new sense of pride, an elevated sense of pride of what it means to not only be a Black American, but what it means to just be an American.”

The event, which over the years has attracted more than 700 business, community and political leaders, will be multi-pronged. It will feature a pre-inaugural celebration and the presentation of an award to recently retired KNBC anchor Furnell Chatman, who is expected to give remarks about his career as a groundbreaking African-American broadcaster.