Former State Rep. Wilma J. Webb was deliberate about naming the inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. event a “marade” in 1986 — the word combines “march” and “parade,” and was a way to both “celebrate the victories achieved” and to “confront injustices in the future,” according to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Colorado Holiday Commission.
Monday’s 40th annual Marade was far more focused on “future injustices” than it was on victories achieved.
“It is not just about celebrating King, it is about having direct action like King,” said Wellington Webb, former state representative and Denver mayor from 1991-2003, during a speech at the annual event Monday morning.
During his time as a representative, Wellington Webb made three unsuccessful attempts — in 1975, ’76 and ’77 — to pass a bill that would designate a state holiday on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. His wife, Wilma, wrote the bill that eventually passed, five attempts and almost a decade later.
Wellington began his time on stage Monday by calling all of the lawmakers behind him to take a seat in the front row — “I don’t like talking behind my back,” he said — so he could address them face-to-face. He repeatedly talked about the need to “unmask” Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and urged lawmakers to criminalize face-coverings during raids and arrests. He also led the crowd in a chant of “Renee Nicole Good,” the name of the woman fatally shot by an ICE agent Jan. 7 in Minneapolis.
That chant set the tone.
LEFT: Seven-year-old Masiah Bester of Denver rolls a giant snowball while the festivities roll on. RIGHT: Brieana Lee, right, waves while holding her younger daughter Elisheva Lee, 7 months, as the Marade passes along Colfax Avenue. (Andy Colwell, Special to The Colorado Sun)
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston also opened his speech by mentioning Good’s name, and invoking her final words: “I’m not mad at you,” which he said King would have been “deeply proud of.”
“The basic notion that the way we struggle against oppression is not by fighting back, but by loving back, that is the deepest, and most difficult, and the most enduring of all of King’s lessons,” Johnston said.
U.S. Sens. Michael Bennett and John Hickenlooper, and U.S. Reps. Jason Crow and Joe Neguse, all Democrats, similarly delivered speeches that emphasized standing up to the Trump administration and defending citizens from ICE.
Crow, who is under investigation by the Justice Department for appearing in a video urging members of the military to resist “illegal orders,” brought up the investigation to anchor a speech about standing up to President Donald Trump.
“We are seeing so much cowardice. Law firms bending the knee, universities capitulating, CEOs kissing the ring,” Crow said. “Over and over again, people cowing, bowing, prostrating themselves to the altar of Donald Trump.”
Politicians and local pastors took turns on the stage beneath the “I Have a Dream” Martin Luther King Jr. memorial statue at Denver City Park from 10 a.m. until about noon, while thousands of people slowly gathered. At noon, the crowd marched roughly 2 miles to Civic Center park along East Colfax Avenue.
“I almost protested the Marade today,” said Virgil A. Robinson, a community organizer who participated in Denver’s first MLK Day march in 1981, three years before Rep. Wilma Webb’s House bill declared the state holiday, and five years before the official Marade was organized.
Robinson said he resented that the community group he was a part of, Umoja, was never credited for starting the march. Instead, Wilma Webb gets all the glory, he said, while giving her credit for other important milestones, like the official legislation — “which we backed,” he said — and installing the Martin Luther King memorial in City Park.
As the Marade made its way to Civic Center park, Robinson stood on the corner of North Williams Street and East Colfax, in a small crowd that included the Webbs. “We’re cordial,” he said. “We all know each other.”
Nearby, Wilma Webb waved at the marchers until the Marade ended, then waved at the street sweepers and police cars that followed. She turned around in circles and thanked everyone in earshot. “Thank you for being here!” she shouted across the street at a police officer removing barricades.
“I was very pleased with today. This morning we saw the snow and now the sun is shining, so all of that is a good sign,” Wilma Webb said. She felt that the Marade leadership and speakers were right to focus the event on current issues.
“People are concerned, we don’t want to go backward, we want to go forward with race relations and items concerning justice and freedom,” she said. “People are concerned about the cost of groceries. And about health care. People are very concerned about ICE and the killing of that young woman, Renee Good. All of these things are on the minds of people. And the people are the ones who make the final decisions.”