Martin Luther King Day in San Francisco

As was the case around the U.S., people in San Francisco commemorated the life and legacy of Martin Luther King by using the occasion to protest Washington’s war in Iraq. A march of well over 5,000 began at the train station after the freedom train from San Jose arrived. This year’s march was significantly larger than in recent years as it moved down Market Street to the Bill Graham Auditorium.

Despite its moderate tone, the march featured a large anti war contingent organized by the ANSWER coalition. Banners and flyers called for people to come out on March 20 to say no to colonial occupation and to bring the troops home on the first anniversary of the illegal invasion of Iraq.

Monday's march also had many anti death penalty activists who were demanding a stay of execution for Kevin Cooper, an African American man scheduled to be executed at San Quentin on February 10.

There was also a large contingent of organized labor that joined the march at Yerba Buena Gardens. They were led by the ILWU precision drill team. Signs in solidarity with the grocery store strikers in Southern California fighting for decent health benefits could be seen along with a delegation of striking Latino mine workers from Huntington Utah. These workers are in a struggle against unsafe working conditions and the right to join the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA)