Dallas MLK parade to honor Dr. King and fallen DPD officer on Saturday
DALLAS – Dallas decided in September 2024 not to hold its 43rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. parade on Monday, Jan. 20. Organizers did not want the event to conflict with the president's inauguration.
"The parade is nonpartisan. So, the King holiday and the parade is nonpartisan," Clinton Baker said. "Next year, we'll go back to Monday on the actual King holiday."
Baker, the MLK parade coordinator and executive director of H.E.L.P., said the parade will start Saturday at 10 a.m. and take a slightly different route due to construction on its traditional path.
"We're going to start from the Fair Park, Pennsylvania entrance. We're going to proceed westbound on Pennsylvania, make a slight right on Latimer approach MLK," he said.
According to Baker, the route continues with an additional right going east back into Fair Park. He said it's an estimated 45-minute commitment.
King's son, Dr. Martin Luther King III, is in Dallas for the event. Baker said King III will participate in the MLK kickoff and the parade.
"We can expect over 150 participants from schools, bands, entrepreneurs. We're going to have plenty of floats, over 22 floats," he said.
Baker said that extreme security measures are in place to ensure onlookers and participants are safe.
The event will also honor fallen Dallas Police Officer Darron Burks. He was killed in a targeted ambush in late August in Oak Cliff. Two other officers were injured in the same incident.
Former DPD Police Chief Eddie Garcia called Burks' death an execution because a 30-year-old shot the officer after a brief conversation. Garcia said Burks was parked in a parking lot in between calls.
"We're hoping that he's looking down on us, and he's smiling that we're honoring him," Baker said.
Burks' family will serve as grand marshals. Former students from Burks' days as an educator, brothers from his fraternity Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., and members of the Dallas Police Department will participate in connection to Burks' float.
Baker said the inclusion of Burks fits the theme of this year's parade: A life of service and sacrifice. A tragic end, much like King, who was killed, many believe, in the prime of his life.
"Many are called, few are chosen. Dr. King led a life of service and sacrifice. And in his many speeches, he spoke on his impending death and the acts that he followed," Baker said. "So, Officer Darron Burks walked a similar path and purpose. And we thank God for those two men, and we're going to miss him."
