On the eve of the national holiday honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., hundreds of people marched Sunday in the 43rd annual MLK parade along the Embarcadero. The event sponsored by the San Diego Alpha Foundation and Zeta Sigma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. featured more than eighty entries, this year. They included local high school marching bands, politicians, and several school districts. Students from the San Diego Community College District collaborated on two floats for the parade on N. Harbor Drive that included a creation by welding students. “It started out of a piece of square metal and we started bending and heating it getting a shape and that’s really exciting,” said Yesenia Ortha, a welding student at the College of Continuing Education. She and twenty of her classmates created a 20-by-15-foot display with a metal tree of knowledge at the center. Rebar supported natural leaf branches. All of it honors the emphasis of education, peace, and unity in Dr. King’s memory. “The United States of America is about being together, not being apart. That’s what we should go for, being together and fighting for what’s right.”Yesenia Ortha, Student, San Diego College of Continuing Education “The United States of America is about being together, not being apart. That’s what we should go for being together and fighting for what’s right,” Ortha said. McKinley Fitzpatrick, 21, is studying kinesiology at Mesa College with plans to be a physical therapist. He said representation matters. “It’s something that I feel Black males might not want to do because it’s challenging coursework. It’s a long road. So, (I am) just putting an image out there that Black males can do it.”  McKinley Fitzpatrick, 21, helped construct one of the floats created by students in the San Diego Community College District. Dozens of students marching in the district’s parade contingent were people of color. They also represented the challenges faced by their marginalized communities. In the current political climate that includes everything from the threat of mass deportations to social injustice in the legal system. “Whether you’re an ally, whether you’re a supporter, standing together is so important. Regardless of your skin color or your background, it’s important that we’re walking together,” said Luke Menchaca, Dean of Outreach and Student Affairs for SDCCD. A student from Miramar College who identified himself simply with the letter “X” said, “I think that the bottom line message of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream all those many years ago is that hope is within humanity, and that’s what I love about being here today.”