Alliance San Diego honors MLK Day with 36th 'All Peoples Celebration'

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — On Monday, the nation honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a wreath was laid at the MLK memorial in Washington, DC.

In America’s Finest City, local human rights organization Alliance San Diego paid tribute to Dr. King by hosting its 36th “All Peoples Celebration” at the Balboa Park Activity Center.

The event featured keynote speakers, live music, dance performers, and an award presentation to an emergency student leader, pointing to one cohesive theme: Claiming dignity.

“Dignity should not be something we aspire to. It should be just how everyone is treated regardless of their circumstances or their background,” LaWana Richmond, Board Vice President with Alliance San Diego, said. “And that is something everyone deserves; you don’t have to earn the right to dignity. It’s an unalienable right we’re born with.”

Alliance San Diego said Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. treated everyone with dignity and his example is the one it wants to inspire its attendees to follow.

Alliance San Diego wanted to empower attendees with the tools and skills to use when advocating for basic human needs and fighting for a cause to bring about more equity and opportunity in a dignified way.

This event drew in 1,000 people, plus viewers online. Among the attendees were business owners or people running their non-profits, who were also associated with Alliance San Diego.

Marvin Finley came down from Los Angeles for both personal and business reasons. Finley runs his non-profit, assisting African-American and immigrant landowners who lost their properties.

“One of the things we need to do is that there are a lot of problems and a lot of things that are going on in America right now,” Finley said. “I believe we need to be empathetic and we need to communicate in our agenda items and then communicate with other organizations and people who have some of the same similarities.”

You can watch a replay of the event here.