Hahn recalls dad welcoming King
Tonya McKenzie, an organizer of Redondo Beach’s first annual Martin Luther King Birthday Celebration, accepts a proclamation from Fourth District Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn. Photo
In 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King was invited to speak at a Black church in downtown Los Angeles. Prior to his arrival, the church minister asked Mayor Sam Yorty to officially welcome King to the city.
“The mayor told the minister he had a scheduling conflict,” Fourth District Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn recalled Monday evening, during the unveiling ceremony for the Martin Luther King bench in front of the Redondo Beach Police Department.
“So the pastor called the city councilmen, and then the local state representatives. But they all had scheduling conflicts,” Hahn said.
King had been arrested that year during the march in Birmingham, Alabama that had been met by police dogs and water hoses.
“The pastor finally worked his way down the political ladder to my dad, then the Second District Los Angeles County Supervisor.
“My dad said he would be honored to welcome Dr. King. He met King on the Los Angeles Airport tarmac when King came off the plane, with a county photographer and county proclamation. Then dad drove King on a tour of his mostly Black district.
“At home that evening, dad told me he had just met the most remarkable man he had ever had the honor to meet.
“Two years later, after Dr. King gave his “I have a dream” speech at the March on Washington, I asked dad what he thought of it.
“He said, ‘I already heard it, when I drove him around the district.’”
“During the planning for a new hospital in South Los Angeles, my dad called Coretta King. He said, ‘You don’t know who I am, but I’m calling to ask your permission to name a new hospital in my district in honor of your late husband.’”
“Mr. Hahn,’ I would be honored,” she told him. “And of course I know who you are. Martin couldn’t stop talking about the respect you showed him when he came home from Los Angeles.”