Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. celebrated in Pasco

Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. knows millions of Americans wouldn’t have the opportunities they have today without the work of Martin Luther King Jr.

But Mendoza also told about 300 people who gathered Monday at Columbia Basin College for the bell-ringing ceremony honoring King’s legacy that the civil rights leader also inspired many to continue his mission, including farmworker advocate Cesar Chavez and Sonia Castillo.

Castillo was a girl Mendoza once attended school with who came to his aid on the playground.

“Upon being told to crawl back under the fence to where I came from, Sonia Castillo turned around and gave that kid a piece of her mind,” said the federal judge, who received the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award for creating positive social change and displaying King’s vision.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is meant to celebrate the progress made in ensuring every American, regardless of race or religion, gender or economic status, has the opportunity to live to their full potential, said speakers at the event. But there is still work to do, they added, and the present generation’s opportunity begets its obligation to those still suffering from systemic discrimination and prejudice.

“Our responsibility as a society of Americans is, ‘What do we do next?’ ” said keynote speaker Tim Sullivan, director of student life for the Pasco School District.

The annual celebration started at the statue of King next to the Lee R. Thornton Center, with attendees ringing silver bells, followed by a group of children placing roses at the statue’s feet. It was a chilly day with fog, and college officials continued the festivities inside the neighboring Gjerde Center, where most of the speakers took the podium.

Despite the gray day typical for the January event, CBC President Rich Cummins said you could usually count on the ceremony being “cloudy with a good chance of hope.”

Though recent turmoil has raised questions nationally about the state of race and equity in the United States, Monday’s speakers said the country has come a long way since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Miss Juneteenth Talya Jackson noted that there were generations of people who didn’t have the opportunity to vote or receive an education like she and millions of others.

And it wasn’t just King who’s responsible for that progress. Mendoza noted that he is living the American Dream because of President Obama, who appointed him to the federal bench and made him the first Latino serving in the Eastern District of Washington.

Sullivan thanked numerous people for helping him along his way but above all he was thankful for his grandmother, Janie Smith, who decades ago led his family and several others from Kildare, Texas, to settle in Pasco in search of a better life where they could be treated with dignity and respect.

“To bring those other families through that window ... I thank you for the opportunity to be who I am,” Sullivan said, choking up.

Now it is our turn, the speakers said. Jackson made reference to the story of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of Luke, which teaches that people should not consider how they will be affected by their actions but how others could be affected by their inaction.

When David Ruiz, president of the Associated Students of CBC, first came to the community college he learned about the student group Dreamers Without Borders, which provides support to undocumented students. Though he isn’t one himself, he joined the group, seeing they needed help. That led him to join other student organizations and ultimately running for and being elected as a student leader.

“Every one of us has that opportunity to be that leader in our community,” he said.

Cummins said the bell-ringing ceremony reminds him each year how much more work needs to be done to create a just and equal society and how every day should be about achieving justice and love.

“One of Dr. King’s most urgent questions was,‘What are you doing for others?’ ” Cummins said.

This story was originally published January 18, 2016 at 12:17 PM with the headline "Spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. celebrated in Pasco."