Department of Peace Makes Waves at the
 Martin Luther King Day Parade
By Tory Haslinger, California Co-State Coordinator

Even at 9 a.m. with dark clouds threatening rain, the sidewalk was already crowded with thousands of people waiting for the annual Martin Luther King parade to begin.

On Jan. 21, for the past 20 years, millions of people have lined up along Martin Luther King Boulevard to remember this great man.

Organizer and Congressional District Team Leader (CDTL), Mel Taylor, CDTL Jo Ann Gaines, Adrienne Ferree, John Choy and I found a spot to put up our small banner. We held our Department of Peace signs high, hoping to get noticed in the multitudes of people.

As the Crenshaw High School marching band approaches I am sadly reminded that nine days ago, a student at the school who was one of the drummers in the band was shot and killed in gang-related cross fire. I look at the students faces, troubled by the recent loss and I long for peace.

Government officials and civic leaders wave from the vehicles that they are perched on. Sheriff Lee Baca, who we had a meeting with three years ago, waves at us with surprised recognition.

Jan Perry and Bernard Parks, two of the Los Angeles City Council members who voted on the unanimous resolution for a Department of Peace, smile at us as if we are old friends and flash us a peace sign.

We made eye contact with every dignitary in the parade…including Mayor Villaraigosa. When the Mayor saw us he announced on his loud horn, “If Martin Luther King was here today, he would say that we should have a Department of Peace!” Everyone in the crowd cheered.

The Mayor of Carson passed by and gave us thumbs up. Local newscasters, the Masons, the Rotary Club and Obama campaigners (many of them) acknowledged our signs. It was great!

We are on the radar with so many influential governmental policymakers!
Just five of us had reconfirmed a commitment to manifest a Department of Peace and made a ripple in a crowd of thousands.

Martin Luther King’s dedication to nonviolence has inspired so many to join the Department of Peace campaign. Our presence here is not only to honor this great man but also to continue his work. We left the parade floating on peace.