![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lbccviking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lifestyle_20240113_MLKParade_ISalazar_1059.jpg?resize=696%2C485&ssl=1\")
Long Beach City College had its own float in the parade, filled with students and employees all dressed with shirts printed with Dr. King\u2019s portrait for the occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preston Smith, a member of LBCC\u2019s special events and operations staff, drove the truck for this parade. Smith, having worked at various other parades with LBCC, was there to ensure everything went smoothly for everyone participating on behalf of the college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m proud to be celebrating MLK while I work. If it wasn\u2019t for Martin Luther King I wouldn\u2019t be able to work here right now,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt (the parade) represents progress and celebrates it,\u201d said Smith, \u201cSome of the older folks I work with have told me stories about how you couldn\u2019t even come to these streets if you were black.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For another participant, new Extended Opportunity Programs and Services department specialist, Thomas Robles, attending the parade with LBCC was an opportunity to both familiarize himself with students and staff he would be working with in the upcoming semester. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to support the students as best I could,\u201d Robles said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about love,\u201d said Robles. \u201cLike (Martin Luther King Jr.) said, \u2018hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the parade concluded, attendees who headed to Martin Luther King Jr. Park were able to experience several live performances throughout the day, as different musical acts took the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apart from LBCC\u2019s parade troupe, the college had students stay during the afterparty to provide information to potential students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shamonique Harris, an LBCC President\u2019s ambassador, was one of those who provided information to carnival attendees interested in enrolling at LBCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis was my first time being in a parade for (Martin Luther King Jr.). It was pretty cool to see all those people happy to see us. It means promoting equality and justice in the name of Martin Luther King,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The sound of booming drums, childrens\u2019 laughter and street vendors hawking their goods lined Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. for Long Beach\u2019s annual Martin Luther King Jr. parade on Saturday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":13574,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[5121,5122,29,1263,142,68,73,81],"class_list":["post-13571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-caincarbajal","tag-iansalazar","tag-lbcc","tag-lifestyle","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-city-college","tag-pcc","tag-students"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Skgy-3wT","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lbccviking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lifestyle_20240113_MLKParade_ISalazar_1616-e1705469066364.jpg?fit=1884%2C1600&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13571"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13578,"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13571\/revisions\/13578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbccviking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lbccviking.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lifestyle_20240113_MLKParade_ISalazar_1622-826x1024.jpg?resize=696%2C863&ssl=1\")