The setting for San Diego’s 43rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade could not have been more picturesque: a sapphire sky dotted with a few wispy clouds, the Star of India and Waterfront Park framing the parade route and the soft January sun warming people as they marched for the kind of America the civil rights leader and Nobel laureate had worked for.

The MLK parade in Newport News featured a special guest appearance by Dr. King’s niece, Rev. Robin Scott-King, who shared the principles by which her uncle lived.