Just a Thought: 1st speaker @ MLK celebration
By Steve Walker
In 1981 when I served as the President of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, (Jaycees) I was afforded the honor to speak @ what was later to be the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. March.
Under Dr. King’s statue off New Braunfels Ave. over 500 people gathered to commemorate the groundbreaking event with me as guest speaker. The following year the National Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday was approved and we have celebrated it for 26 years.
I have the honor of marching for sixteen consecutive years in the crowd that consistently draws over 100-thousand participants. I have marched as a City Councilman, American Federation of Teachers Union President representing Harlandale ISD and Judge.
For the past 6 years I have covered the march in photos, posting them on my blog, the Walker Report. I have taken photos of Grand Marshalls to include Martin Luther King III, Congressman John Lewis, Dr. Joseph Lowry and other civil rights activists who marched with Dr. King in the 50s and 60s.
I was invited to speak at the first gathering because the San Antonio Jaycees chapter was the first predominately white local organization to actively support the movement to nationalize Dr. King’s birthday. As President I represented the chapter which at the time was the fifth largest Jaycee Chapter that sponsored non profit events like Orphan’s Shopping Tour, & La Semana Alegre during Fiesta, in the county.
I was invited to address the crowd by Eastside leaders Reverend R.A. Callies and Reverend Clifton Byrd who organized the maiden event. I recall being somewhat nervous addressing an all black crowd as the only white person at the gathering.
I expressed my concerns to Reverend Callies who comforted me by saying I would be fine. He encouraged me to share my heart and all would go well. Fortunately for me I took his advice and it worked out. Once I overcame my jitters I addressed the crowd and received a warm reception.
It should be noted it was my first time speaking to more than 50 people at one time unless you count my college days as a College Cheerleader in a filled to capacity gym yelling at the crowd, “two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar, all for the Rams, stand up and holler!!”
As a former Speech Teacher I instructed hundreds of high school and middle school students over the years. Having encouraged them to get up in front of a crowd, it was my turn to face off.
Performing in plays in high school and college was one thing reciting lines of a character, but using my own narrative to a crowd of five hundred people staring at me and listening to what I had to say about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was something else.
It obviously worked out for me as within that year I became a news reporter for a number of TV stations around Texas and a stint as a local newspaper reporter to eventually include this column for La Prensa!
Anyway, as always, what I write is “Just a Thought.”
Steve Walker is a Vietnam Veteran and former Justice of the Peace and Journalist. His column “Ask the Judge” column ran in La Prensa for the last two years.
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