McALLEN — A crowd began their march in downtown McAllen in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a tradition here that has now been going on for 13 years.
The Historic Cine El Rey Theatre Foundation hosted their 13th annual MLK Day event Monday evening which organizers and participants, alike, hope will help spur the community into giving back.
State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, served as keynote speaker for the event and led the annual Commemorative Symbolic Walk.
“He’s been here every year,” said Bert Guerra, the founder of the Cine El Rey foundation, who praised Canales and his family’s work for the region.
Guerra noted that King’s message in his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech was not just for Black people or people of color but for everyone.
“I think him being from a biblical background and that type of foundation, I think it brings everybody together, no matter what religion you are,” Guerra said. “And I think this country, if you want to say ‘one nation under God,’ well let’s practice what he has shown us.”
He acknowledged that many of the people participating in the march were already involved in community service but their coming together still served as a way to work together and spread their message to the wider population of the Rio Grande Valley.
“We don’t just huddle together every day, we all spread out,” Guerra said. “You’re going to see the best of the best people at this event that do so many things, not just for one day but every day of the year, and I think that’s what we’re trying to let people know — find out what you’ve got to offer and use it.”
Among the nonprofit organizations who hope to continue connecting with the community is Village in the Valley, an organization that works to unite and recognize the Black community in the Valley.
Theresa Gatling, co-founder and co-president of Village in the Valley, said events like the MLK celebration at Cine El Rey enable them to speak with people and other nonprofits who are interested in helping the community.
“You think you know but you always get to meet someone else who’s doing some extraordinary things in the community,” Gatling said, “and so even though we’ve got a nonprofit, there are places that we can help, that we can support.”
Gatling added that the event also had an educational aspect to it in that it allowed children to hear and recognize that service is still important.
“Part of his own person was giving and so you see that in everything that he did and I think that’s why it’s just become this legacy,” Gatling said of King. “But let’s do it like he did — let’s get involved in the community, let’s see what we can do to change people’s minds and hearts from the grassroots.”
Also in attendance was state District Judge Fernando Mancias, who said King was the architect of the civil rights movement that partly inspired the farm workers’ movement led by Cesar Chavez.
“They never met each other but they worked parallel in terms of trying to bring change using non-violent methods and also using all kinds of organization skills to empower people to better their lives,” Mancias said who, as a former farmworker himself, was involved with the movement for more than 50 years.
“The movement is still going on,” Mancias said. “There’s been a lot, a lot of advances, a lot of good things that have happened, but it’s still going on. It’s going to be going on for a long, long time.”
Canales also drew parallels between the fight of the African American and Black community and the fight of Hispanics, Latinos and other people of color.
“Our fight is not much different than it was 100 years ago, it’s just couched differently, it’s just got a different dress on it but the fight is still the same,” Canales said.
As an example, he pointed back to a law adopted by the Texas legislature in 2017 that was criticized as being discriminatory against Hispanics and Latinos.
“Three (legislative) sessions ago it was SB 4 or ‘show me your papers.’ We’re going to pull over anybody who looks brown and we’re going to ask for immigration status,” Canales said. “The fight is non-stop. The fight that Dr. Martin Luther King (Jr.) fought is alive and well today.”
In a message to the people in attendance but also the people of the Valley, he asked them to reflect and whether or not they’ve worked to help others.
“The question you should ask yourself is what have I done for my community? What have I done in service of my neighbors?” Canales said. “What have I done to leave my county, my city, my state, my nation a better place than what it was yesterday?”
To see more, view Monitor photojournalist Delcia Lopez’s full photo gallery here:
Photo Gallery: MLK’s dream ‘alive and well’ in McAllen at Cine El Rey event
