The 40th Kingdom Day Parade, postponed because of January’s wildfires, is scheduled for Monday in South Los Angeles.
The parade, originally scheduled for two days before Martin Luther King Day, will begin at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Western Avenue. Participants will head west on MLK Jr. Boulevard to Crenshaw Boulevard and then south to Vernon Avenue.
This year’s theme is Peace and Unity, Let it Start With Us. Attorney Ben Crump is the grand marshal.
The parade was postponed from Jan. 18 to ensure that emergency resources, including fire and law enforcement personnel, remained fully available to address the Palisades and Eaton fires, according to Adrian Dove, the parade’s chairman and executive producer.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Hilda Solis and Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Maxine Waters, both D-Los Angeles, are among the elected officials set to participate in the parade, which will feature floats, bands, marching units and equestrians.
Metro’s representation in the parade will include its replica of the General Motors “old look” bus Rosa Parks was riding on in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat to white passengers, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s float will feature the words “Racism is a Public Health Issue.” More than 50 volunteers from the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare nonprofit organization will march and ride the float including members of its Black Leadership AIDS Crisis Coalition affinity group.
Berenecea Johnson Eanes, Cal State LA’s first Black woman president, will lead a delegation of students, faculty and staff including Basketball Hall of Fame member Michael Cooper, an assistant men’s basketball coach for the Golden Eagles.
The parade is billed by organizers as the “world’s largest and longest-running life celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King.”
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