Author:  Matt Leedy THE FRESNO BEE

It has been 40 years since the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. marched through Fresno with a message of urgency. He preached immediacy in the fight to achieve equality.

King walked with a diverse group from Fresno High to Ratcliffe Stadium, where on June 1, 1964, he spoke to a crowd of 3,000, saying: "Now is the time; now is the time to make brotherhood a reality."

His message reverberated in Fresno on Monday, more than three decades after his assassination.

About 1,800 people -- young and old, of all races and ethnicities -- marched through downtown to honor the slain civil rights leader and his dreams for equality.

"I think Martin Luther King would be very happy to see the representation here today," said Gail Gaston, chairwoman of the Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Committee and Fresno's Human Relations Commission. "This is his dream."

Citizens and dignitaries talked of a job unfinished and the pressing need to end hunger, stop war, ensure equality in education and health care and foster unity among all races and ethnicities.

Longtime Fresno resident R.K. Mitchell joined the march to honor King and his ideal. And "for his struggles, his work, his sacrifices, which were enormous," Mitchell said. "It's the least I can do to honor him and others who gave so much."

To achieve King's dream of equality for all, "there is still a long road ahead," said Mitchell, who pointed to impoverished minorities and to inequities in health care and education. "There's much more to be done to make the playing field a balanced playing field."

City Council Member Cynthia Sterling also said there is a great deal of work ahead for King's dream to become a reality.

Farm laborers are still fighting for better pay, benefits and the right to unionize, she said, adding that the struggle against racism and discrimination still exists.

Sterling said the area needs more jobs this year and in 2006. She rallied support for a group of marchers from the Service Employees International Union Local 250, who wore their trademark purple shirts, and who Sterling said are struggling for health-care benefits.

During the 1960s, the message of equality was trumpeted loudest by King, who is regarded as the father of the civil rights movement and who helped ensure that people of all races can attend the same schools and live in the same neighborhoods.

Under his leadership, the movement affected public opinion and resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which authorized the federal government to enforce desegregation of public schools and outlawed discrimination. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent civil rights work.

In the summer of 1964, King brought his civil rights movement to Fresno, and marched with church and civic leaders under a banner that read: "Clergymen for Fair Housing."

He said many may "be scared" and physically suffer before full rights are achieved, but "if physical death is necessary to save our children from permanent psychological death, nothing can be more redemptive."

King said: "If a man has not discovered something worth dying for, he is not fit to live."

If equality did take "90 years or more" as King predicted, he said others would take the torch.

Four years after his Fresno speech, his Nobel Peace Prize and the passage of the Civil Rights Act, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., by sniper James Earl Ray.

In Fresno on Monday, parents marched with their children to teach lessons about King, his message, and to continue his legacy.

"I thought this would be a great opportunity for them to feel what a march was like the way Martin Luther King led them," said San Juana Campos, 37, who marched with her daughters Teresa, 6, Polet, 8, and Clarissa, 10.

She hoped they learned "peace and to love one another; not to have any hatred toward people."

Thomas Williams brought his three sons so they could "actually see all the different ethnic groups marching together, because Martin Luther King's dream was he wanted to see all people come together."

Williams hoped his sons -- LeBrandon, 12, Jalen, 11, and Byron, 8 -- would feel a sense of responsibility "to carry this on."

King "lived, spoke and even died so human dignity could be preserved from generation to generation to generation," said the Rev. Jesse J. Avila from St. John's Cathedral at Mariposa and R streets, where the march began.

Marchers spanned two blocks, covering a route from the cathedral to a packed Veterans Memorial Auditorium.

A commemoration program at the auditorium included speeches, readings of King's words, singing and dancing by troupes, whose dancers varied in age and ethnic makeup.

Lead marchers carried a banner that read: "Let Freedom Ring For: Equality, Justice and Civil Rights." And the Edison High School marching band created a rhythmic bookend.

The march paused midway through at City Hall, where dignitaries gave brief speeches.

Assembly Member Juan Arambula spoke about the state budget and "troubled times ahead," urging marchers with King's words to "keep their backs straight" and persevere.

Barbara Hunt, elected to the West Fresno Elementary School District board in November, spoke of unity, and District Attorney Elizabeth Egan said her office is dedicated to "justice for all."

Les Kimber, a former City Council member and community activist, said if King were alive today, "he would be leading a massive protest in Washington, D.C., against an immoral and illegal war in Iraq."

A drive to end hunger also was part of the day's events, and a truckload of food was collected.

"This doesn't end tomorrow. After today, don't give up, if you gave cans [of food] today, don't stop," said Enrique Reade, a member of the city's Human Relations Commission and the Martin Luther King Jr. Unity Committee. "We need this every day. Not just today.

"I know this was part of his dream: getting involved to make these changes."

The reporter can be reached at mleedy@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6208.