MLK Day march in Seaside, where Dr. King often visited

Cities around the Central Coast celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, but its different in Seaside. Dr. King had a strong connection with the city – he was friends with a former pastor.

“Martin Luther King came to our church, here in this peninsula, it means a lot to us carrying on and representing, coming to the march, continuing on with the speech and helping the community,” Dwayne Choates said. “Ms. Coretta Scott would come every year to Martin Luther King Junior High, and we would have the same march down Broadway, all the way down to the youth center.”

More than 50 after Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech, where do we stand now? How close are far are we from is vision?

History sometimes repeats itself. That’s probably going to continue. But what you also see happened is people standing up for what’s right and values of equality, Ben Bruce, the Program Director at Community Partnership for Youth, said.

At the Friendship Baptist Church this weekend was NAACP Monterey President Regina Mason. Mason says there a lot of work left to be done.

“The number of people disproportionally over-represented in the prison system, education system, poor healthcare outcomes. We have a President that says people of African ancestry come from (expletive) countries.”

And on this holiday, we spoke with a young girl named Katherine, who shared why everyone was marching together.

“Because Martin Luther King, he did a great thing. That’s why black people and white people, we’re all friends now.”