The Westchester/LAX Coastal Kids’ March for Equality came to Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles this Monday morning. Organized by local moms and their children, the occasion marked the event’s second year.
The event hosted about 300 parents and kids, roughly twice the attendance of last year’s march, according to lead organizer and local mom Haan-Fawn Chau.
A Spark of Inspiration
Chau tells Parentology she was inspired to organize last year’s event by a Kids’ March for Equality held at UCLA in January of 2017. “People in our community have been very vocal recently,” Chau says, particularly when it comes to civically-engaged moms. “We wanted the kids to have a safe chance to do it themselves, as well.”
Kids from the neighborhood played a big role in pulling the event together. According to Chau, kids assisted by “making signs, distributing fliers, and helping to get their teachers and their school to know” about the event. “Even though the parents were sort of the ones doing the logistical organizing, the kids have been very much involved, which I think is a great learning activity for them to know how to make their voices heard,” Chau says.
Attendees could pick up hand-made signs from tables to carry during the march. Snacks were also available in exchange for donations, the funds for which are earmarked for Los Angeles’ King Center, a non-profit that prepares “global citizens to create a more just, humane and peaceful world using [Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.]’s nonviolent philosophy and methodology.”
Organizers invited attendees to sign a “Declaration for Equality,” stating the event’s message of peace and inclusivity.
“We put [the Declaration] together because we really wanted to make sure today was a statement about equality,” Chau says. The Declaration from last year’s march currently hangs in Councilmember Mike Bonin’s field office.
Marching for Equality
Once the march began, parents and children marched up and down Sepulveda holding signs with slogans of peace and equality. As their chants rang out, passing cars honked in solidarity. Chau and other event organizers led attendees in chants extolling the virtues of love over hate.
One of those marching was Ethan, a local boy attending the event with his parents and two siblings. Stopping a moment to speak with Parentology, Ethan shared this message: “It’s important to get the message out there that love is more important than hate.”
Kids’ March for Equality: Sources
The King Center
The Argonaut (last year’s inaugural march)