The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King is marked annually. But how many people can say they met the civil rights leader?
"As a toddler, he once patted me on the head," revealed Willie Lubka, co-chair of the MLK Jr. Committee of Ventura County — one of a number of organizations observing the holiday on Monday.
Lubka added that the day is about more than one historic individual.
"It's a recognition of the movement he led and all of the people who worked to overcome the harm, the injustice of racism," said Lubka. "And Dr. King helped bring us towards equality."
Events include a Freedom March in Oxnard, a Unity March in Santa Barbara, and an African-American communal performance at Santa Barbara's Trinity Episcopal Church Parish Hall.
