SANTA CRUZ — When organizers began to plan Santa Cruz’s first Martin Luther King Jr. march, it was unclear how many people would come.
But hundreds had gathered an hour before the event began Monday, and by its 10 a.m. start, thousands packed the streets of the downtown area as marchers went from Cathcart Street, down Pacific Avenue and ended at Front Street.
Santa Cruz NAACP President Brenda Griffin said planning began when Santa Cruz Police Chief Andrew Mills called her to suggest it.
“I said, ‘let’s do it,’” she said. “We need to come together, and this is a way to do it.”
Griffin said that making such connections is crucial in a time when communities’ relations with their law enforcement officials are strained after several high-profile police shootings throughout the U.S.
“There are some issues we have to work through,” she said.
Still, Griffin’s message was overall positive.
“I’m excited because our community is excited,” she said. “This event is bringing people together from many different communities.”
Titi Hoang Smith, whose 16-year-old son Luke was shot to death in November 2016 by a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputy after stabbing his father and uncle, said she came to the march first and foremost to call attention to police encounters like her son’s.
“I don’t want any lives to be wasted,” she said.
But it was also her own story that drew her to the march honoring the civil rights icon.
Smith came to the U.S. four decades ago from Vietnam as a “boat person.”
“I’m here for the dream,” she said. “This is my country I call home. I am here as an American appreciating freedom and the people who paved the way for us, like Martin Luther King Jr.”
Pacific Collegiate School student Maddie Lipscombe, 17, joined several of her classmates in the march.
“We’re here to commemorate this day,” she said. “We want to step up for equal rights for everyone, and that means equal rights for everyone.”
Alex Yasbek said he came to the march in hopes that it will later resonate with his children, 5 and 8.
“I hope they see this as something positive and fun, so that when they are adults they don’t elect a racist president,” he said.
Congressman Jimmy Panetta was carrying a poster reading “Defend DACA,” a reference to a set of rules protecting young immigrants currently under threat by Republican lawmakers.
“At a time when there is so much negativity from the top down, it is good to see a powerful message from the bottom up,” he said.
