South County Gathering Celebrates King’s Dream

MISSION VIEJO —  The fourth annual South Orange County Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration began Sunday evening with lively music and thunderous applause.

It ended with a message.

“We face an unfinished agenda in implementing the dream of Martin Luther King,” John W. Mack, president of Los Angeles Urban League, told the audience of about 250 at Shepherd of the Hills United Methodist Church. “Diversity is an asset. I would like to think you share that conviction. However, we know everybody does not.”

Mack, who met King during a student rights protest in Atlanta in the 1960s, was one of several speakers who praised the civil rights leader’s accomplishments on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

But Mack also criticized people for not fulfilling King’s goals to make the nation a better place for all people.

“We had people who didn’t go along with King, who snipped at his heels,” Mack said. “Now we need to translate his dream into a reality . . . to come together to make our streets safe whether it’s Mission Viejo, Los Angeles or the 405 Freeway at Mulholland Drive,” the scene where comedian Bill Cosby’s son was slain Thursday, he said.

“I feel proud we have a holiday recognizing the great work of Martin Luther King. I hope we don’t fall into a situation where we just think of it as a day off,” he said.

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Another speaker, the Rev. James Lawson, senior pastor of Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, was in Memphis to lead a protest when King was assassinated.

He said King’s work is a long way from being completed. “We are living by our own passions and desires. We are not living in the vision of God,” he said, then quoted King saying, “To live outside of God’s love is to live in hell.”

As a gospel choir sang between speeches, the audience clapped. Some danced in the pews. Others just listened and learned.

“This has opened my eyes. Growing up, I was never exposed to [King’s] teachings,” said Justin Loughman, 24, of Lake Forest. “I got out of this a sense that we all need to work together.”

Some understood firsthand what it feels to be a victim of discrimination.

Kisung Lee of Irvine said, “I agree with King’s opinion about race. We have white people, black people, Asian people, but I think we are all human beings. I’m Asian and sometimes I feel equal, but sometimes I don’t.”

Others in the audience said that King was not fighting solely for civil rights of blacks, but that his work was meant for everybody.

“Martin Luther King Day is about blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, the elderly, the disabled,” said Gina Lamourelle of Mission Viejo. “It’s about people, all kinds of people, all conditions of people.”

Events for the celebration continue today at Saddleback College with a lunch at 11:30 a.m. in the Student Services Center Cafeteria, 28000 Marguerite Parkway. Cost is $5. Several diversity workshops will follow in the college’s business and General Studies Building, Room 210. The workshops will be from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.