More than 1,000 marchers honor MLK in Yakima

YAKIMA, Wash. — Between 1,000 and 1,200 participants marched Monday through downtown Yakima in memory of Martin Luther King Jr.

Waving signs that called for peace and justice, supporters followed a route east along the Yakima street that bears the historic civil rights leader’s name: Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

It was Yakima’s 27th annual celebration of the King’s birthday, a federal holiday.

Signs read “The time is always right to do what’s right” or “I have a dream.” One featured crayon-colored children of a variety of ethnic backgrounds holding hands.

Marchers included Yakima Mayor Micah Cawley, Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin and the entire Yakima Valley Community College men’s basketball team, wearing their team warm-ups.

The marchers were followed by a Chevrolet Suburban playing recordings of King’s speeches and Spanish music from Radio KDNA.

The march ended at the Yakima Convention Center where organizers granted four “Spirit of the Dream” awards to local civil rights leaders.

They are Henry Beauchamp, the first black mayor of Yakima and a longtime community advocate and activist; Ricardo Garcia, former executive director of KDNA, the nation’ s first all-Spanish public radio station; and Sister Kathleen Ross, outgoing president and founder of Heritage University in Toppenish, which serves many low-income students who may not have otherwise received an education; and the Rev. Robert Trimble, pastor of Mount Hope Baptist Church who led the effort to rename in 2006 B Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

— Ross Courtney