Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.’s trip to Fresno and his commemoration now

During my lunch last Friday, I took my usual stroll around Fresno’s downtown and the Fulton Mall. As I approached the Radisson Hotel on Van Ness, I noticed a crowd across the street, around the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Courthouse Park. There appeared to be a line of dignitaries, an audience and what appeared to be a student dance troupe. It dawned on me that the annual Opening Garlanding Ceremony for MLK Day weekend was happening. My lunch was ending, so I didn’t have time to get a closer look and participate in the activities.

The statue at Courthouse Park is a bust of Dr. King and was erected in 1988. According to records, he was the first non-Fresnan to be remembered with a statue in the park. The creator was an art student named James Zerl Smith. It was that same year that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Committee started the tradition of garlanding. The Unity Committee exists today and has been vital in organizing celebration and remembrance events since 1984.

Monday came and my social media feed was full of Dr. King’s quotes, as well as pictures of friends at the various events dedicated to Dr. King. One feed was from local radio personality Christopher Gabriel. He posted a radio interview with Andrew Young, a former congressman, mayor and United States ambassador to the United Nations. Young was a close confidant to Dr. King and shared some stories regarding the late civil rights leader. I listened to the interview as I prepared lunch for my boys.

According to the interview, Young met Dr. King in 1957. It turns out both men married women from Marion, Alabama and both started college at age 15. Young shared that the year that he started college was the year that Mahatma Gandhi achieved independence for India. Both his and Dr. King’s college presidents were invited to the Indian independence day celebrations and came back on “fire.” Perhaps it was the influence of Gandhi and the nonviolent approach to change that Dr. King incorporated in his fight for justice.

Regarding Dr. King’s death, Young stated that in his view, it was a “beautiful death” and that Dr. King was “determined to die for the poor.” Ironically, according to Young, Dr. King knew his days were numbered and on Feb. 28, 1968, he preached his own eulogy. Sadly, in April of that same year he was assassinated.

The following day, I walked to Dr. King’s statue at Courthouse Park. The flowers that were placed there the preceding Friday were still bright and looked fresh. As I stood there, I thought of something I had heard a while back — that Dr. King had visited Fresno. After research and a trip to the Fresno County Public Library, I found an article from The Bee’s June 2, 1964 edition that talked about his trip to Fresno.

Dr. King visited on the day before and spoke to a crowd of 3,000 at Ratcliffe Stadium. The article mentioned that there was a “sawdust storm” inside the stadium but that didn’t detour his speech or crowd. Prior to the speech, Dr. King spoke to a group of 500 people gathered on Echo Avenue in front of Fresno High. From there, a march ensued from the school to the stadium. It was estimated that 1,000 people took part in the march and although it was a “solemn occasion,” there was “singing and laughter too.”

By the time my research at the library was done, it was evening and I needed to get home. On the drive, I thought about the crowd of 3,000 gathered to hear Dr. King, and wondered if anyone remembered the iconic march and speech. I smiled thinking that Fresno, my hometown, hosted such a historic gathering.

This story was originally published January 24, 2020 at 6:00 AM.