Victory in Hanford

Victory in Hanford
By: Rev. Floyd D. Harris Jr

Earlier this year I began investigating what was going on in Hanford. This community, surrounded by farm land, is about 45 minutes South of Fresno. What I found was substantial poverty and poor housing within the black community. It was obvious to me that the City of Hanford treats the African American community without regards of equality and fairness, especially when it comes to providing public service for people of color.

There is a community park called Coke Park on the south side of Hanford where the majority of people of color and their families live. The entrance of this park looked ridiculous, you never felt a sense of pride or place where community would have the urge to be involved. This park is known to have snakes crawling because of the farmland and the refusal of equitable park district upkeep. The park grass in this Black community was two - three feet high in some areas of the park. The children can't run or kick balls because the grass is too tall. On the other hand, when you travel to the north end of Hanford in the white neighborhoods, the parks where immaculate and very inviting.

While taking the time to observe these two different communities I was not surprised to discover that the politicians who run the City of Hanford had not established a holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was a civil rights leader in America and stood for those who couldn't stand for themselves. Dr. King was tired of black people and all people of color being treated like second-class citizens. Dr. King was tired of seeing incidents such as inequality, injustices, and unfairness overshadowing the African American communities.

For example: Mrs. Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat to a white man while sitting on a public transportation bus. She was told to go and sit at the back of the bus but she refused and was then arrested. Dr. King was determined to end the strife between the have and the have nots. Dr. King fought to end segregation and believed that all people had the right to be treated fairly. He saw there was unequal treatment when white business owners refused to serve Colored people at there place of business. African American children were not allowed to white area schools and this was widely accepted at the time. Until a man like Dr. King with a grand movement of other individuals behind him changed history.

Observing the injustice in Hanford and realizing the need for observing a day in honor of Dr King, I put out a nation wide alert . We set out to make sure that Dr. King's holiday would become a reality for all of America, "the land of the free", including the City of Hanford. The National Action Network of California announced that they would expose the city of Hanford on a national level if the politicians there were intent on ignoring the importance of making a Holiday set aside in the remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther king Jr. for the people of the City of Hanford. I called for a prayer vigil on the steps of the Hanford City Hall so that God would touch their hearts before they voted.

National Action Network of California State Crisis Intervention Officer (CIO) Safiyah Brannon called each of the counsel members and the Mayor's office in the City of Hanford to educate them on the importance of why they should pass the holiday. Brannon called each counsel member and the mayor's office to invite them to the vigil, but none came. Brannon told me that one of the counsel members stated that she was not coming and that if you all come to the city of Hanford you all better walk soft. Brannon asked the counsel member if that was a threat?, the counsel member said "no, no more than what you all are doing!"

The MLK holiday is about fostering unity and encouraging diversity among Americans of all backgrounds. At the Prayer Vigil the National Action Network of California's goal was to open the hearts of the politicians in power, hence to change policy for the betterment of their communities. We stated our organization would not tolerate the city of Hanford to operate with such inconsistencies by sitting in seats of power that represents freedom, justice, and equality for all but yet showing indifference to such previously mentioned communities. We strongly challenged the City of Hanford to approve the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. In our estimation this act by the City of Hanford would verify the city's intent and favor for justice for all humanity and would most likely improve race relations amongst people of all ethnicities in their area.

Brannon said that "by making this a holiday we are educating other nationalities about who African Americans are." NAACP Hanford branch went into the community to collect signatures in favor of having a Dr. Martin Luther King Holiday to have it put on the November 2006 Ballots. My position is that this issue is a no brainier and it's an insult to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the black community to have to go and beg people in the community for signatures. We can’t sit on the sidelines and watch Politicians toy with Dr. King's legacy. The city of Hanford is behind the time and they needed to catch up.

By Honoring Dr. King’s Legacy we are reminded of the horrible injustices that permeated America and all the gains we've made through the Human Rights and Civil Rights movements. Also, this remembrance challenges us as a nation never to go backwards but to look forward with expectation of a greater justice and equality for humanity. Don't forget my sisters and brothers from all cultural, ethnic, sexes, and all people that he sacrificed his life so that all people would learn that violence, institutional racism, and prejudices are a violation of ones civil and human rights. Between January 24, 1956 and April 4 1968 Dr. King was Arrested 8 times, had his home bombed 3 times, was stabbed once and then finally he was assassinated April 4 1968.

Dr. King's assassination on April 4 1968 should have been the only necessity a rights of passage needed to pass this holiday. Lady J who is the Community Relation Officer for the National Action Network observed undercover police watching and following us around the city. Lady J took pictures and video taped the undercover cops observing us. After said Prayer Vigil there was a victorious outcome. The Hanford city counsel's voted yes to have a Dr. King holiday without any further delay.

I believe that the African American people in America need to deal with the problem directly and take control of their history and their future. White decedents benefitted from the slave trade in America. Criminals of European decent and other ethnicities violated the African people like animals. Black people were lynched, African women were raped, hung by there toes and babies were cut out of their stomachs and much more. Black men were hung, gentiles were cut off and put in their mouth and they were sold like cattle. I can no longer sing we shall over come because I know I have over come through Jesus Christ my Lord Savior.

The victory in the City of Hanford should give other black community leaders and lay people motivation and an obligation to educate their people not just with words but also with action. We should have the stamina and the know how to make demands on America's politicians to stop their oppressive behaviors on black people, and demolish their institutional racism against people of color. Black men and Black women you have a special purpose on this earth, because God created you first and everything in and on earth for his pleasure. God created black people uniquely to replenish the earth, and to transform into different hues of pigmentation, textures of hair, and shades of eye color as a means of survival in any environment.

Read about the history of human kind, and ancestors. In addition, be proud of what African people have accomplished through hard work, determination, faith, and prayer. Continue to educate yourself and your children about their black history, which is the human race's history.

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Rev. Floyd D. Harris Jr is the California State President of the National Action Network
www.nancal.org