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Vol. 64 No. 2 | Thursday, January 11, 2024
www.sdvoice.info
Serving San Diego County’s African & African American Communities 64 Years
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE
Legacy Life
HONORING THE
HONORING THE INSIDE:
REMEMBERING DR. KING PAGE 3
LETTER FROM A BIRMINGHAM JAIL PAGES 8-11
MAJOR EVENTS IN DR. KING’S LIFE PAGES 12-13
PHOTO: Aukid, Adobe Stock
DISCOVERING OUR
LOCAL MLK MURALS By Aryka Randall CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MLK mural at South Bay Health Center located at 330 E. Eighth St. PHOTO: Aryka Randall
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been celebrated visually in many ways, but one of the most creative has been with carefully curated murals in San Diego.
With the aid of the city of San Diego and various grants for creative endeavors, a number of local artists have been given the opportunity to immortalize MLK with artwork throughout the city. See MURALS page 20
TOP BLACK
A REVIEW OF THE STRUGGLE TO NAME SOMETHING FOR 2024 AFTER DR. KING
CAUCUS PRIORITIES
By Macy Meinhardt VOICE & VIEWPOINT STAFF WRITER
The naming process of San Diego’s Martin Luther King Jr. Way—the western portion of Interstate 5 beginning in downtown San Diego through Spring Valley—was not one that necessarily had the best interests of the Black community at heart. In fact, the selection of it as San Diego’s tribute to the adorned civil rights leader was a last resort option to come from the 1986-1989 contentious debate surrounding Black community leaders and white business owners in Downtown San Diego. Digging through archives, the LA Times journalist Ralph Frammolino at the time named the overpass “a focal point of an ideological and political battle” with “overtones of racism.” Almost forty years later, to some that sentiment still remains true.
The Debate Begins The story goes back to December 1985 when Coretta Scott King came to visit San Diego at the Educational Cultural Complex upon an invitation from Michel Anderson, who served as the chair of the Martin Luther
See page 2
King State Holiday Commission. According to Anderson, the turnout signified “an outstanding community response to a national icon.” “Anybody who was anybody came out,” said Anderson. Amid the nation celebrating the first Martin Luther King Day as a federal holiday one month later in Jan. 1986, coupled with Coretta’s monumental visit, the two events kicked off the debate on how “America’s Finest City” would individually honor King.
Martin Luther King sign being replaced in San Diego, 1989. PHOTO: Vince Compagnone, San Diego Free Press
First, the then City Manager Slyvester Murray, nominated a five-mile stretch of Euclid Avenue and 54th Street to be named after King, notably because it cut through an area known for diverse income and ethnic groups. Murray attained one of the highest posts of any African American to hold an appointive office in San Diego at the time. However, the proposal was widely rejected, and residents along the route launched an angry protest, including objections to King’s tactics and mission. Under pressure, the council set aside Murray’s recommendation.
to rename Market Street—known as the most diverse roadway in San Diego—to Martin Luther King Jr. Way. Extending from the bay and downtown to Encanto, the thoroughfare traversed through the region’s most disadvantaged areas, and, at the time, a census tract that had one of the highest concentrations of Black residents in the city—41 percent.
Back to the Drawing Board
But once again, business owners and residents along Market Street in downtown vehemently opposed, and also argued that they didn’t receive proper notice of the council decision before it was made.
Having to pivot, the City Council voted in April 1986
See NAME page 15
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