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The MLK March in a changing East Side

January 21, 2019 By Gaige Davila Leave a Comment

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Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Brett Robinson pulls a wagon carrying daughter Emma Robinson, 4, during the annual MLK March Monday. Robinson, who has attended the march for over 30 years, said he marches because Dr. King’s message “Is a dream we all should believe in.” Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Joseph Clay encourages marchers over a sound system in front of his house during the annual MLK March. Clay said he has done this the past 17 years because "Today is a happy day." Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Evangeline Luna (from left), Manuel Ochoa, Terry Tucker and Jose Johnson, clients of Our Place Adult Day Care, hold signs they made for the MLK March. Owner Lynda Richardson keeps the center open every year on the holiday so clients can participate instead of staying home. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Trinity University students participate in the annual MLK March on Monday. Photo by Noah Alcala Bach | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Christian Lee (left) and Randolph Macias participate in the annual MLK March. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Zelma Shannon (from left), Cynthia Gibbs and Darlene Jones, members of the NAACP San Antonio chapter hold their sign during the annual MLK March Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor San Marcos resident Todd Beach said he marches because “We all want unity,” during the annual Martin Luther King Dr. March Monday on Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Grace Jones (left) and Marceline Gipson watch San Antonio’s MLK March from their porch on Monday. Gipson said they welcome marchers to visit them to grab a cup of coffee or hugs. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Ronnie Thomas, pastor of Trinity Mission Church, prays blessings over marchers during the annual MLK March Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Camila Cavazos, 6, walks with mother Viviana Cavazos during the annual MLK March Monday. Cavazos said she marches so her daughter can see what Dr. King’s legacy is about. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Sheldrick Griner stands with her children Corey, 5, Cameron, 3, and Charity Griner during the annual MLK March Monday. New residents of San Antonio, Griner said she was excited to finally be able to watch the march. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Noah Alcala Bach | Heron Contributor Chloe Garza, 6, participates in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Noah Alcala Bach | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Michael Rodriguez | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Michael Rodriguez | Heron Contributor Members of the NAACP San Antonio chapter participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Macy (from left), Abigail and Taylor pose for a photo during the annual MLK March Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Performance artist Scartheia holds a sign during the annual MLK March Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Pamela Branch and Joyce Walls stand in front of 415 Harding Place while Thomas Minor and Cassie Kines raise their fists in support of  the annual MLK March Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Cameron, 9, and Jordan Brown, 6, rest after the annual MLK March Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Thousands of people make their way up Martin Luther King Jr., Drive during the annual MLK March on Monday. Photo by Noah Alcala Bach | Heron Contributor Terry Gonzalez, 49, participates in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Noah Alcala Bach | Heron Contributor Aalysa Morales, 18, participates in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Noah Alcala Bach | Heron Contributor John Q. Paraini, 71, participates in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Noah Alcala Bach | Heron Contributor Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron People take photos from a higher vantage point during the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron People take photos from a higher vantage point during the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron People gather on Martin Luther King Jr., Drive for the MLK March Monday morning. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Thousands of people participate in the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Velma N. (from left) with the San Antonio African American Community Archive and Museum; Cole Murray and Beth Standifird with the San Antonio Conservation Society; and Sarah Gould with the Westside Preservation Alliance march to preserve the Woolworth's building downtown. Photo by Ben Olivo | Heron Nykai Moreno, 12, Deyvon Mayer-Maxwell, 13, and Julian Rodriguez, 12, play at the end of  the annual MLK March on Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Children climb a playscape during the annual MLK March on Monday. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor Thousands of people gather at the end of the MLK March Monday on San Antonio's East Side. Photo by V. Finster | Heron Contributor

On the shuttle from Freeman Coliseum to MLK Academy, the starting place of the Martin Luther King Jr. March, I remember thinking how the civil rights movement started, partially, on busses. And when the shuttle dropped us off just before MLK Freedom Bridge on Monday, I thought of Selma, Alabama. Unintentionally, the city of San Antonio has made a metaphorical journey through the civil rights movement before ending with a march in honor of it.

We walked across the bridge until reaching MLK Academy on the far East Side: people sang, took selfies, locked arms, played music through speakers and unrolled banners with quotes from King. The crowd grew from a few hundred to a few thousand a few minutes after I arrived at MLK Academy: the influx was from a train that delayed hundreds of cars and a few of the shuttle buses. There were several groups representing historically black colleges and universities, MOVE Texas, True Vision Church, Democratic Socialists of America, etc. They left their signs in the air for the entire march, with the view only interrupted by people holding bags of popcorn in front of them.

A few minutes into the march, marchers holding a banner that said “Southwest Workers Union” cut through the crowd and stopped it. Democratic Socialists of America stops along with them, with most of the crowd maneuvering around the banner. These stop-and-chants continued with other groups throughout the march, but there were too many people in front of the banners to see.

Several times throughout the march I heard people commenting on the newly renovated homes next to boarded up and condemned ones. Those who’ve been attending the parade for years would point to houses, saying someone lived in them last year or two years before and now live somewhere farther north, south, east or west in the city. This kind of East Side neighborhood flight is evident in the marchers’ conversations, too. I had to squeeze past people who stopped to hug familiar faces once they found them in the parade, often, saying they missed seeing each other in the neighborhood.

Just before the march crossed under I-10, a group of 10 GM&N Auto Tale and Auto Income employees, standing outside watching, continued a tradition started by the Rev. Raymond Callies in the 1980s, playing MLK speeches on a loudspeaker. From down the street, I could see their heads bobbing. When I got closer I heard the unmistakable instrumental of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues.” MLK’s speech was being played over a song critical of inner-city ghettos and what created them, across from a strip of condemned homes, one of which, on a boarded window, “MLK” was spray painted.

At the end of the march, I sat down in front of a house to rewrite my shorthand notes. Next to me was Debra Brandon, a part-time benefits coordinator for Alamo Colleges and volunteer with the San Antonio African American Community Archive Museum. She was resting on the same stoop I was, admiring a march that she’s seen grow since Rev. Callies, the march’s founder, participated in them some 50 years ago. Brandon has been on the front page of the now-defunct San Antonio Light several times, because she was at the front of the march so often.

She remembers driving on the intersection of New Braunfels Avenue and East Houston Street, giving Callies change towards a statue of MLK, which was eventually erected on what is now MLK Plaza. “Anybody who has died and benefitted not just black people, but all people, deserves recognition,” she said.

San Antonio does not, from someone not aware of its issues, seem like a city that’s more reverent to MLK than Memphis, Selma, or Birmingham. But Callies, and the churches and groups he organized with, constituting the roots of San Antonio grassroots activism, all directly contributing to the march as it is today. There’s no reason why San Antonio would not house the largest MLK march in the nation: it has, whether fortunate or unfortunate, always had active community organizations responding to injustice.

Gaige Davila, a native of South Padre Island, is a Heron reporter.

Contact Gaige Davila: 956-372-4776 | gaige@saheron.com | @gaigedavila on Twitter


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