The 43rd annual March for the Dream in Sacramento will continue to celebrate the legacy of Civil Rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his ideologies. The march will begin and end at Sacramento City College on Monday.
The nonprofit MLK365 is hosting the event. Executive Director Sam Starks said participants can come to honor the past while impacting the future.
“We want people to have a level of understanding,” Starks said. “We can celebrate and play music and do all that other stuff, we also want to understand the significance of the moment, that while we are celebrating Dr. King, we can't take our eyes off the present, because it will impact our future if we do so.”
MLK365 asks participants to arrive at 8 a.m. A program will take place at 8:30 a.m., and marching is set to begin at 9:15 a.m.
The march will start from the West lot at Sacramento City College. Participants will walk a 4.3-mile loop that will take about an hour and half.
According to MLK365’s website, the loop will take participants from Sutterville Road to Freeport Boulevard through Land Park and Broadway and back to Freeport and Sacramento City College.
According to Starks, there will be an optional first leg of the march called extra mile. Leaders from the Oak Park community will march from the Oak Park Convention Center to Sacramento City College right before the 9:15 a.m. march begins. The extra mile march will start at 8:00 a.m. and depart at 8:30 a.m.
Starks said the new tradition was put in place to memorialize the past and to protest the present.
For drivers in Sacramento on Monday, there will be no road closures, only rolling stops, Starks said. He added that the California Highway Patrol and the Sacramento Police Department are involved in the planning and will be present to ensure participants' safety, in addition to marching in solidarity.
“That's an important piece, that they're here, watching over us, but they're integrated,” Starks said. “So if somebody wants to do something stupid, they're gonna be there, but they're also there as people participating in this collective learning process and building bridges of understanding.”
Starks said he loves creating an environment where people who would not normally engage can now walk and talk with one another.
“That is why I do it,” Starks said. “For us, it's really about how do we inspire, educate, and activate people to be agents of change, to be more like King.”
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