After attending Saturday’s modest King Day celebration at the Senior Center, City Councilman Jim Clarke was asked how he believed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would respond if he were to return to today’s world.
“He would be shocked, or at least surprised, to see a black man is President of the United States,” Mr. Clarke said. “He would be sad to see that areas of poverty and illiteracy remain (in the black community).
“Dr. King would be saddened to see communities that are racially divided and that we still have problems in the minority community with those in positions of authority.”
Why does the Councilman believe such problems persist 47 years after Dr. King’s assassination when he was working to curtail black poverty and lack of hunger for education?
“I think out of ignorance,” he said. “It’s the same way it is very easy to vilify the homosexual lifestyle until you find out that you have someone in your family who is gay. Suddenly you seem to have a little more compassion about that issue.”
As Mr. Clarke was walking out of the Senior Center, “I was thinking that we are a pretty diverse community for being affluent and on the Westside.
“I was reminded because of the mixes that were in the room. I was trying to recall the last time I was at an event here in Culver City with such a diverse audience. Probably last year’s Martin Luther King Day at the Senior Center.
“There not only was diversity in ethnicities in the room,” said Mr. Clarke. “but in age, too. Young people, old people. People who lived through the civil rights experience and could share their stories.
“I walked out of there thinking where else in Culver City have I gone where I have seen so much diversity. Yes, I go to the Democratic Club meetings. There is ethnic diversity, but basically, everybody is over the age of 60.”
