California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 41

Introduced by Assembly Member Chávez

March 21, 2013

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 41—Relative to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 41, as introduced, Chávez. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge.

This measure would designate the Mission Avenue bridge over Interstate 5 in the City of Oceanside as the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge to honor the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.

Fiscal committee: yes.

WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 -
April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, doctor of theology,
activist, and leader in the African American Civil Rights
Movement, who is best known for his role in the advancement of
civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King, who has become a national icon, became
a Baptist minister and a civil rights activist early in his career; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott
and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, Dr.
King led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany,
Georgia in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in Birmingham,
Alabama that attracted national attention following television news
coverage of the brutal police response; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King also helped to organize the 1963 March
on Washington, D.C., where he delivered his “I Have a Dream”
speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest
orators in American history and said to the crowd: “With this faith
we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of
hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling
discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood”;
and

WHEREAS, On October 14, 1964, Dr. King received the Nobel
Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolence.
In 1965, he and the SCLC helped to organize the Selma to
Montgomery marches, and the following year, he took the
movement north to Chicago. In the final years of his life, Dr. King
expanded his focus to include poverty and the Vietnam War; and

WHEREAS, Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in
Memphis, Tennessee and was posthumously awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was established as a United States
federal holiday in 1986 and a memorial statue on the National Mall
in Washington, D.C. was opened to the public in 2011; now,
therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature designates the Mission
Avenue bridge (Bridge No. 57-0266) over Interstate 5 in the City
of Oceanside as the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bridge to honor
the life and achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and be
it further

Resolved, That when our children cross this bridge they can be
reminded of an American hero who preached love, understanding,
and peace for all; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested
to determine the cost of erecting appropriate signs consistent with
the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing
this special designation and, upon receiving donations from
nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the
author for appropriate distribution.