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“Fresh Perspectives from Sacramento” is a periodic reflection from the desk of the state Assemblymember who represents Culver City and the Crenshaw District.
As our nation celebrated the life and work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. last Monday, various civic activities, including volunteerism, and festive gatherings occurred in Los Angeles as our city continued its three-decade-old Kingdom Day Parade tradition in the Crenshaw District. Attendance during the ABC 7/ County Federation of Labor- sponsored event was higher than in recent years. Broader consciousness was pulsating the crowds lining the parade route.
Many women and men wore “Don’t Shoot” memorabilia and marched for various causes, chief among them: jobs and economic development, healthcare access, and educational opportunity.
I was a partner in the Kingdom Day Parade with the roughly 80-men known locally as “Suits in Solidarity.” We joined forces with members of the Empowerment Congress of Los Angeles County’s 2nd Supervisorial District on our march from Exposition Park to Leimert Park Plaza.
Our mission was to raise consciousness throughout the African American community and Greater Los Angeles about critical issues facing our social demographic. We are all professional men who work and serve as leaders in various industries. We are rooted in our communities, change agents in our professional environments and intergenerational in our social perspectives as fathers and sons.
Our cause on this year’s King Day holiday was to highlight our message: Black Lives Matter.
We accomplished our goal through broadcast news, online media posts, and social media advocacy. We encouraged each other to walk the parade route, show up in solid numbers and speak to parade participants about the need for all or our community’s members to be responsible for self-care and community advancement of families, religious communities, educational institutions, law enforcement, social groups, media, and governmental bodies.
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“Suits in Solidarity’ on King Day
Suits in Solidarity is a new movement. We intend to expand community awareness of the importance of voting – a lost civic responsibility in many volunteer-oriented youth activities and contemporary social media. Suits in Solidarity has initiated a broader dialogue about promoting community life and expanding opportunity to realize life’s abundance.
Suits in Solidarity started with a silent protest event at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles more than a month ago.
We followed up with our heavily publicized march in the Kingdom Day Parade to the Crenshaw District. Now, we take our activism as professionals back to our workplaces and to our geographically diverse neighborhoods to acknowledge, remind and instill our firmly held belief that All Lives Matter… even Black ones.
For more information, see www.sridleythomas.com
