What inspired you to join the Martin Luther King March today?
It’s tradition and legacy. I’ve been doing this with my children for 40 years. Sometimes you have to gird yourself because it can seem so futile, and yet when you sing this music and you do this march, it speaks to our resilience. That’s what I’m here for, to gird myself.
Lady Jazz, 72, KSQD Music Programmer/Activist
I’m here for peace and love and to do what I can to resist the Trump 2.0 and the genocide and occupation of Gaza. Gaza is like the test for humanity. It’s all interwoven, and there is still some colonization and racism interlinked with the disparity between the rich and the poor. All the people of color who have been oppressed, descendants of colonialism, we’ve been played. We need to get together and focus on love.
Unhae Langis, 62, Writer/Activist
I’ve been a peace activist for social justice since I was in the womb. I’m here because of Martin Luther King’s legacy of placing people’s needs over oligarchy and endless war. What’s happening in Gaza and here at home is all connected because the wars and occupations are taking away from desperately needed funds for social concerns.
Alan Fischer, 63, Acupuncturist
It’s Martin Luther King Day, and I have Black relatives, Palestinian relatives, Jewish, Jordanian, Vietnamese, Mexican and Egyptian relatives. Literally, they’re blood relatives of my husband. His parents were driven out of Palestine at the time of the Nakba in 1948. But even if we didn’t have Palestinian and Black relatives, we would be here.
Joan Rentz, 83, Retired Language Teacher
We are all diverse people, all created equal, and it’s essential to show up for truth, whether you belong to a group or not, you have to start showing up. I thought this would be a good antidote for the sideshow going on in Washington.
Christine Fahrenbach, 69, Clinical Psychologist
The situation in Palestine is very similar to what we had with our racism in the United States. I’m Jewish, and I was there two years ago, and that’s why I do things like this. It’s important to make the genocide in Palestine visible in our community.
Sheila Carrillo, 83, Writer/Political Commentator
