Martin Luther King Celebrations 2026

Hundreds of people turned out to celebrate Martin Luther King Day at a series of Santa Barbara events. Starting at 9AM in De la Guerra Plaza and ending at about 2:30PM with a community lunch.

Here are my many photos. Only a few are included in this article, so please check them out! And here is my video playlist. Again, I could not include them all in this article. Here was the full program for the day of events.

The theme this year was this Martin Luther King quote:

“We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice; not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.”

It was clearly aimed at Mr Trump, who had been inaugurated exactly a year earlier. A man who is opposite to King in just about every way that matters.

The events began in De la Guerra Plaza with a series of talks and performances. Assembly Member Gregg Hart repeated the theme quote and ran with it. Contrasting Dr King with Mr Trump. “The level of corruption, cruelty, and disrespect for humanity is profound.” He noted that we feel Trump’s attacks viscerally and we can use Dr King’s example for how we should respond.

“Dr. King’s final book was called, Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community? And he spoke about the fierce urgency of now. That is exactly what we are facing now, the fierce urgency of now.”

We are dealing with “conservatives that are truly fascists that really want to take over our country and to pull us back in time”. He noted that the violence we face now from ICE is like the violence Dr King faced. That this violence by government officials is waking up the nation.

“Even when true leadership is lacking at the top, Dr. King reminds us that responsibility doesn’t disappear. It shifts to us, to our communities, to the nonprofit organizations, to the local leaders, to the community leaders, to each individually and what we’re teaching our children about the moment.” The message: When our leaders fail us, we must become the leaders.

Supervisor Laura Capps was up next, but first she called up elected officials to introduce themselves.

Laura Capps went on to talk about the example of 15 year old Claudette Colvin, who recently died. Claudette Colvin did the same thing Rosa Parks had done, before Rosa Parks did it. Refusing to give up her seat to a white person. She was arrested for it, yet few people know her name. Capps was making the point that positive change happens not because of a few visible heroes. But because of the collective efforts of many people. People whose names we may never know.

She praised those who are continuing this tradition by courageously standing up to the injustice and brutality of ICE hauling away our neighbors with no due process.

Past Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Melinda Palacio organized the Martin Luther King student poetry and essay contest again this year. This is one of my favorite parts of the annual King celebration.

First up was Brandon Elementary 6th grade poet Takunda Chikowero. First place winner of the contest for ages 6-12. He read his poem “To Lead is To Love”. He talked of the pain and anguish experienced today in our country. And how his generation of the future deserves leadership driven by love.

Next up was Isla Vista Elementary student Yunyi Mu. First place winner of the essay contest for ages 6-12. She talked about living in another part of the US where everyone had the same first question for her: “Where are you from?” She was delighted to move to California where the first question instead was: “Would you like to play?” Her essay title: The Day No One Asked Where I Was From”.

Connie Alexander is President of the Santa Barbara NAACP and she delivered the keynote speech in De La Guerra Plaza. “The theme this year for the NAACP National has been around the fierce urgency of now.” She talked about all of the women and minorities who created much of our history, yet who are often invisible.

She talked about her grandmothers, working in hotels and hospitals. Yet also working as community leaders. And her mother, who was a Teamsters Union shop steward. The management knew not to mess with her.

She talked about the need to plant seeds for the future. That means stating what we are for. Being welcoming to young people. Offering them something new, not just the same old stuff.

She said we can’t always wait for someone to lead us. “We’ve got to assign ourselves.”

Then World Dance for Humanity performed.

Then the crowd moved out onto State Street to march up to the Arlington Theater. Here I captured most of the march at Canon Perdido, near the start.

Then I ran up to Victoria Street and captured the full march from there.

At the Arlington Theater, Wendy Sims-Moten led the crowd in “Lift Every Voice”.

Congress Member Salud Carbajal reiterated the event theme and the contrast with Trump’s brutal attacks with ICE. The soaring cost of health care and everyday needs. He praised the nationwide peaceful opposition. And noted that Renee Good was killed for her peaceful opposition. This was before Alex Pretti was killed.

Sese Ntem and his musicians performed Ewe drumming, which is a traditional West African music. Here is one piece that combined drumming and singing.

There were more rounds of honoring student poets and essay writers.

This video shows a reading by Thorin Rasmussen of his winning poem “Where Power Rings”. Followed by Stella Burnett reading her winning essay “Letter to Dr King from the Future”.

The musical group Shelter includes Ron Paris (formerly with The Platters), Wendy Sims Moten, Julie Carlson and Antoine Richardson. Here was one of their performances.

Leah Weber King is the wife of Dexter King, son of Martin Luther King. Dexter King died two years ago of prostate cancer, but Leah King continues the legacy of the King family, speaking out for justice. She delivered the keynote speech of the day.

Her central point that she took from Dr King: “The struggle for justice is ultimately a spiritual struggle. It’s a call to our higher consciousness.”

“You cannot legislate morality, but you can regulate behavior. Laws could desegregate lunch counters, but only a transformation of the human heart could make people want to sit together.”

Dr King had seen too much hate to allow himself to feel hate. “We will match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. And so throw us in jail, and as difficult as that is, we will still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children. And as difficult as that is, we will still love you.”

“Do to us what you will, and we will still love you. But we cannot in all good conscience obey your unjust laws because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.”

Leah King acknowledged the great victories since Dr King. But she noted that in many ways his dream remains unfulfilled. And that many hard-won rights have been lost. Including meaningful voting rights in much of the South.

Laws come and go and can be evaded and ignored. It takes truly changing hearts and minds to change how people are treated and how they get along.

She challenged each of us to be a part of this change. Especially when it makes us uncomfortable. Including venturing into places that are unfamiliar and connecting with new kinds of people there.

The crowd was then invited to walk over to the First United Methodist Church for a free community lunch. More music and a chance to mingle with people you may not often mix with.

Leah King made herself available and I was grateful to follow up with her on her talk. I wanted to know how we can change hearts and minds. And why it has been so especially difficult for many Americans to connect with their fellow Black Americans. She also very kindly posed with me and with volunteer Darlene Love.

Dr King noted “11:00 on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America” referring to the fact that churches are very segregated. And little has changed since his era. When public schools were integrated by law, white parents moved their children to private or church schools. Leaving most Black children in the South in effectively segregated schools today.

I noted that gay Americans became accepted quite rapidly and completely once a critical number came out. I wondered why it was different for Blacks. She did not have a clear answer. But my friends offered this answer: Most families have someone who is gay. They realize that person is just another member of the family to be accepted. Most white Americans don’t have that connection with Black people.

(In my case, I have no known gay members of my family, but I do have a Black cousin!)

I am grateful that Leah King offered to stay in touch. We indeed all have to “assign ourselves” to reaching out and connecting with those who are unfamiliar. Even to those on the other side politically. To “see their humanity” as Dr King asked us to do. Even when they do violence to us. As Dr King noted, “as difficult as that is”.

For more information about the Martin Luther King Committee of Santa Barbara and/or to donate to their work, please go to https://mlksb.org/

– Robert Bernstein