David Courtland and Carlos Garcia | Vida Newspaper
Ventura County celebrated its 40th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday with a march in Oxnard downtown that featured a guest speaker, elected officials, public servants, community activists, community members and students from numerous local high schools.
Marchers carried banners along the event’s signature Freedom March, which began at 8 a.m. at Plaza Park at Fifth and C streets and continued until reaching the Performing Arts Center at Hobson Way and Seventh Street.
Among those who marched were 26th District Congresswoman Julia Brownley, State Senator Jacqui Irwin and Democratic candidate for the 26th District, State Senate Majority Leader Monique Limon, Oxnard Mayor Luis A. Mc Arthur, Democratic candidate for the 26th District Chris Espinoza and student representatives from 24 Ventura County and Los Angeles County high schools.
“Today Senate District 21 came together to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Limon said. “On days like today I am reminded of the beloved community that Dr. King so often spoke about.”
“A community where all people can be united, even in our differences, to share in the wealth of the earth,” Limon continued. “I am grateful for his lasting legacy and the reminder to never stop striving for equality and justice for all.”
At the ceremony in the OPAC, Mistress of Ceremonies Helaine Stallion led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance before introducing the MLK Celebration Choir, which performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” under the direction of Tamara Thomas.
Giavanna Pitts read the welcome address, followed by an Old Testaent scripture reading by April Marecheau of Santa Clara High School and a New Testament scripture reading by Jonathan Kelley of Ventura High School.
Reverend Kristlane Smith of Moorpark United Methodist Church read an invocation and the MLK Celebration Choir performed a musical selection, followed by Stallion’s acknowledgement of clergy and community leaders.
Terrina Price presented the 20th Century Onyx Club 2026 Debutantes and Escorts, followed by another musical selection by the MLK Celebration Choir.
Dr. Iva Jeffreys read a history of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Speech Contest before introducing the 2025 contest winner, Amiah-Faith Weaver of Thurgood Marshall Elementary School.
Willie Lubka of the MLK Committee then introduced the keynote speaker, Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson, director of the Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality and Democracy at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
A professor at UCSB from 2005-2015, Dr. Johnson is a historian of the African American struggle for freedom who then spent 10 years in the Chicana/o and Central American Studies at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and associate director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies. She returned to UCSB last July to assume her current position.
This story was originally published by Vida Newspaper on January 21, 2026.
Issues: 119th Congress, Civil Rights