By Daniel Rigney
Cities from coast to coast celebrated Martin Luther King Day this weekend with a host of festive parades. Houston alone had three. Two of these were scheduled in direct conflict with each other owing to some obscure feud that occurred in the 1990s between competing local organizations.
So now Houstonians have their choice: The “Original” (reputed to be the oldest such parade in the country) or the “Grande” on Monday, with a third parade option, the MLK Youth Parade, on the prior Saturday. I decided to defy reason and try to attend all three.
This required that I walk briskly this morning from the Grande to the Original downtown (a distance of some twelve or so blocks) to catch both the start of the first parade and the end of the second. The weather was gorgeous, and my field trip was great fun. I love a parade, or three.
Still, the experience made me nostalgic for good old-fashioned civil rights marches, like the one my family and I attended nearly every year in San Antonio. A parade typically celebrates the past. A march looks toward the uncovered ground that still lies ahead, and challenges us to do better.
I was not the only white Anglo to attend the Houston parades. There were several others. Most of our city’s paler population were presumably celebrating civil rights more quietly at home.
The MLK Youth Parade on Saturday, the smallest of the three, offered reassuring testimony that Martin Luther King’s memory is still being handed on to new generations. Here’s a young troupe of high-steppers, the KCMO Pythons from Kansas City, in smart bowties and fine feathered headdresses.
The theme of the MLK Grande Parade this year was “Achieving Equality Through Education.” This team of young scholars from Ethel M. Young Elementary waves university banners. Can African-Americans kids aspire to study at leading universities someday? Ask President Obama.
On to The Original, in progress downtown. I’m not sure what the theme of this year’s parade was, but the latter part of it seemed to celebrate internal combustion, the engine on which Houston’s economy depends. I arrived to witness a seemingly endless procession of Corvettes – perhaps 100 of them – crawling by, followed by race cars and well-restored antique cars. (“Old School and Still Cool,” read the plate on a black and white Chevrolet Bel Air, circa 1952.)
As an evangelical church group went by, I wondered “WWJD? What would Jesus drive?” Or would he drive at all? In any case, I’m not seeing him in a Corvette.
Fittingly, the Original parade ended with a fleet of garbage trucks, calling to mind the last speech Martin Luther King gave, in Memphis, on behalf of striking sanitation workers.
Three cultural elements – religion, the military, and commerce – materialized in all three parades. Gospel singers and church groups shared the street with Armed Service groups, including one contingent of Buffalo Soldiers in post-Civil War uniforms.
But most touching of all was the selfless presence of corporate and political interests -- H&R Block reps on Segways (“Get Your Billion Back, America”), Chick-fil-A people in cow suits urging us to Eat More Chicken, and political candidates, including one self-described “LaRouche Democrat” from the populist right. They all set aside their corporate and political cynicism for a day to honor the memory of Dr. King. Didn't they?
sanantonio.gov
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Cities from coast to coast celebrated Martin Luther King Day this weekend with a host of festive parades. Houston alone had three. Two of these were scheduled in direct conflict with each other owing to some obscure feud that occurred in the 1990s between competing local organizations.
So now Houstonians have their choice: The “Original” (reputed to be the oldest such parade in the country) or the “Grande” on Monday, with a third parade option, the MLK Youth Parade, on the prior Saturday. I decided to defy reason and try to attend all three.
This required that I walk briskly this morning from the Grande to the Original downtown (a distance of some twelve or so blocks) to catch both the start of the first parade and the end of the second. The weather was gorgeous, and my field trip was great fun. I love a parade, or three.
Still, the experience made me nostalgic for good old-fashioned civil rights marches, like the one my family and I attended nearly every year in San Antonio. A parade typically celebrates the past. A march looks toward the uncovered ground that still lies ahead, and challenges us to do better.
I was not the only white Anglo to attend the Houston parades. There were several others. Most of our city’s paler population were presumably celebrating civil rights more quietly at home.
The MLK Youth Parade on Saturday, the smallest of the three, offered reassuring testimony that Martin Luther King’s memory is still being handed on to new generations. Here’s a young troupe of high-steppers, the KCMO Pythons from Kansas City, in smart bowties and fine feathered headdresses.
The theme of the MLK Grande Parade this year was “Achieving Equality Through Education.” This team of young scholars from Ethel M. Young Elementary waves university banners. Can African-Americans kids aspire to study at leading universities someday? Ask President Obama.
On to The Original, in progress downtown. I’m not sure what the theme of this year’s parade was, but the latter part of it seemed to celebrate internal combustion, the engine on which Houston’s economy depends. I arrived to witness a seemingly endless procession of Corvettes – perhaps 100 of them – crawling by, followed by race cars and well-restored antique cars. (“Old School and Still Cool,” read the plate on a black and white Chevrolet Bel Air, circa 1952.)
As an evangelical church group went by, I wondered “WWJD? What would Jesus drive?” Or would he drive at all? In any case, I’m not seeing him in a Corvette.
Fittingly, the Original parade ended with a fleet of garbage trucks, calling to mind the last speech Martin Luther King gave, in Memphis, on behalf of striking sanitation workers.
Three cultural elements – religion, the military, and commerce – materialized in all three parades. Gospel singers and church groups shared the street with Armed Service groups, including one contingent of Buffalo Soldiers in post-Civil War uniforms.
But most touching of all was the selfless presence of corporate and political interests -- H&R Block reps on Segways (“Get Your Billion Back, America”), Chick-fil-A people in cow suits urging us to Eat More Chicken, and political candidates, including one self-described “LaRouche Democrat” from the populist right. They all set aside their corporate and political cynicism for a day to honor the memory of Dr. King. Didn't they?
As the parades ended, my thoughts turned again to the MLK civil rights march (not a parade) held each year in San Antonio.
This unheralded but (to me) inspiring event is now drawing well more
than 100,000 people a year. It is possibly the largest such event
anywhere, in a city (in red Texas, no less!) with fewer than 90,000
African-Americans (only 6.5 percent of the population).
While the overwhelming
majority of marchers in San Antonio are black, many Hispanics and white
Anglos participate as well, including members of a group marching
behind the banner of St. Mary’s University, where I taught for many
years. They understand that MLK ‘s work was not just about civil rights
for African-Americans, but about human rights for all people everywhere.
San
Antonio does MLK Day exceptionally well, in my view. Here’s what the
march looks like, more than 100,000 strong. It seems to stretch on for
at least a mile. I'm missing it today. There's nothing like this in
Houston.sanantonio.gov
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