California Travel Tips
California Celebrates a King
Published on: January 12, 2016
Three MLK Celebrations: San Francisco March (left); Los Angeles Parade Founders (upper right); San Diego UCSD Parade (lower right photo)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated with concerts, parades, film showings and community service in honor of a “King” who was assassinated and died a martyr due to his efforts to promote equality. California was founded on the concept of freedom but has endured tumultuous times in the journey for equality:
- Father of California Missions Junipero Serra under orders of Spain’s king was to “reduce” California’s Indians into mission communities as subjects of the King and children of God. Approx. 86% died in the missions.
- Missionization required a brutally sudden change in cultural patterns and lifestyle for natives Indians that historians have compared to the forced movement of black people from Africa to the American South.
- California became the 31st state in 1850 under a “Compromise” that abolished slavery against the wishes of some state founders. 700 African Americans fearing personal safety left California in a mass exodus even after new laws prohibited slavery.
- The 1965 Watts riots left 34 dead and over $40 million in property damage.
- The Rodney King riots in 1992 left 58 dead (50 homicides), 2,000 injured and $1 billion in damage.
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