The auditorium of Hayward Unified School District’s performing arts center filled as families, community leaders and dignitaries gathered for a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration on Monday, Jan. 19.
The community event, hosted by the City of Hayward, began with combined student choirs from Hayward’s school district leading the audience in a lively sing-along of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.”
Remarks from Mayor Mark Salinas of Hayward followed, where he set the tone for the event by discussing the city’s own history of activism—from the 1968 addition of Ethnic Studies at Cal State Hayward, to the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center established in the 1970s through grassroots action, providing immigrants with access to healthcare in the city.
“Today, we are benefitting from an entire generation of professionals who were shaped by these programs,” said Salinas. “There is no better time than now for us to come together to defend what generations before us fought to build.”
The celebration spotlighted local youth and leadership, featuring an expressive contemporary dance to “Joy to the World” by Mt. Eden High School’s dance program and sets featuring student solos from Hayward High School’s jazz band.
Awards were presented to Pastor Ellis Jones and Reverend John Edward Cunningham Jr., honoring them for their leadership and work at the First Baptist Church of Russell City in raising community engagement.
The highlight of the evening was the keynote speech given by Judge LaDoris Cordell, who is known for her trailblazing work in the Bay Area legal community. Cordell served as the first African American Superior Court judge in Northern California, and recently published the book, Her Honor: My Life on the Bench…What Works, What’s Broken, and How to Change it.
The theme of Cordell’s speech was clear: the importance of being an upstander in the face of injustice. She referenced historical figures, writers and the work of grassroots activists—such as Bree Newsom, whose protest on a Confederate flag flying next to the South Carolina State House resulted in the state permanently removing the flag from its capitol, and Cesar Chavez’s grassroots campaign of labor organizing in the 1960s.
Drawing parallels between history and recent events, Cordell noted, “In spite of the 14th Amendment, the current administration wants the courts to strip citizenship from American-born citizens of undocumented immigrants.” She also said, “Our constitution is not self-enforcing. It takes ‘we the people’ to stand up when the principles of democracy are threatened.”
The celebration was not only a tribute to King’s birthday, but its speakers and message served as a reminder to the Hayward community that King’s legacy truly lives on through “upstanders.”
