‘Thank You to Dr. King’

The Rev. Wanda Ross Padilla’s emotions echoed the crowd’s. “I am so excited — I cannot contain myself!” she cried, and called for “a standing ovation for the United States of America” during Monday’s Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration at the Roundhouse.

“I never thought I’d see this day,” said Padilla, first vice president of the Santa Fe NAACP.

It was a common sentiment among about 200 people gathered at the noon event, who anticipated today’s inauguration of the nation’s first black president. Oneida Brooks, who comes to the Roundhouse celebration every year, said, “My dad’s 84 and he said, ‘I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime.’ I’m 60, and I thought I’d never see it in my lifetime. But my son is 30 and he said, ‘Oh, yeah, I knew it would happen.’ ”

Brooks pointed out the part African- Americans have played in the state’s history. “There’s always been a black presence in New Mexico — the buffalo soldiers, there’s a strong history here,” she said. “Some people thought Hispanics wouldn’t vote for a black, but Barack Obama is opening that baggage and looking at it.”

But as excited as the crowd was about the president-elect’s inauguration, Brooks said, “This is definitely King’s day — it’s not Barack’s day. The thread is there, it’s interwoven, but this day is about saying thank you to Dr. King.”

Speaker Harold Bailey, executive director of the New Mexico Office of African-American Affairs, called for an end to the phrase “tricultural society” in New Mexico, reminding the audience that former Gov. Bruce King declared New Mexico a multicultural state in 1979.

“We have to get with the program,” said Bailey, ask ing people to correct anyone they hear calling New Mexico a tricultural society. He said its use — signifying Anglos, Hispanics and Native Americans — excludes not only African-Americans, but other minorities.

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Padilla said the organization could not have made the strides it did without allies. “Two of our allies are here today, the Jewish community and the Quaker community,” she said.

Norton J. Bicoll, representing the Jewish community, gave the invocation, saying he wrote it with tears of joy streaming down his face. “This is a new world ... a giant step toward understanding we are all God’s children,” he said.

Bicoll then sang a song he recalled his mother singing to him: “Anywhere you point your finger to, there’s some one with the same type blood as you.”

Music was a refrain throughout the celebration, with a choir of 18 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders from Sweeney Elementary singing for the celebration. Their choir director, Kristina Korte, had selected two songs for them to sing. One, “Dreamers,” had verses about King and Amelia Earhart, and Korte had penned a song herself about Obama.

The choir also sang “What a Wonderful World” for the celebration. “There’s nothing more wonderful than children singing it,” Korte said.

At the close of the event, the choir led the group in singing “We Shall Overcome,” as all those attending joined hands and swayed back and forth.

Canuto Delgado, who was attending, said, “This is only a small part of Martin Luther King’s dream coming true. But I think it’s a rebirth, like being reborn again — not in a Christian way, but in a human way.”