CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
At the start of a parade celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday at Ala Moana Beach Park, Batiste Foster got into a dance with Elsalina Sumida, who was with a Brazilian/African dance group. The parade began at Ala Moana Beach Park, making its way through Waikiki.
Audience reflects
on King’s dreamHundreds celebrate at Kapiolani
Park for the civil rights day
James Moore grew up in Ahoskie, N.C., when separate restaurants, restrooms and drinking fountains for African Americans were the norm.
Moore, a 67-year-old Kailua resident, was one of hundreds who celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day yesterday at Kapiolani Park.
"I like to support Dr. King's ideas," said Moore, a 30-year Hawaii resident. "It gives us hope for the future."
The day allowed many to reflect on the changes the civil rights leader brought about through his words and nonviolent protest during the 1950s and 1960s until his assassination in 1968.
"On a day like this, I take the time to reflect on all the sacrifices that people made so that I can be where I am today," said psychologist Emily Streeter Grayton, 30.
"I'm grateful that so many have struggled," said Grayton, adding that it has allowed educational, occupational and other opportunities "that were not afforded to African Americans in the not-so-distant past."
Speaker Rubina Collier, an NAACP member, urged the audience to make sure King's message continues to be told, to honor King by keeping his dream alive.
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Marc Hino played drums with a group called Sambanda yesterday at Ala Moana Beach Park. After the parade, hundreds enjoyed a rally at Kapiolani Park.
"The dream is in our hands," she said.
After a parade, hundreds of people of all races enjoyed a rally filled with rousing speeches and gospel music, prompting some in the audience to stand, clapping, singing and swaying to the music.
Women dressed in colorful African garb danced to the beat of West African drumming.
Harrison Jenkins, 29, enjoyed the performances with his wife and son while lunching on ribs, fried chicken and cornbread from Mom's Soul Food Restaurant.
Jenkins' 10-year-old son said he had not learned anything about King in school. Jenkins lamented the dearth of African-American history and culture taught in schools, as well as Hawaiian and other cultures.
"The more they learn about another group of people, the more they learn to appreciate them and their culture," Jenkins said.
Steve Iacovino was celebrating King's birthday and his own.
"I'm fortunate in my lifetime to see quite a bit of progress in race relations," said Iacovino, who turned 52 and described himself as Italian and gay, "a group that's discriminated against, too.
"Eventually we'll have equal rights for everyone," he said. "We're getting pretty close."
