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Contra Costa County honors student and adult humanitarians at MLK celebration; keynote calls for unity
Summary
Contra Costa County’s MLK Day event recognized a student humanitarian and an adult honoree (accepted by family), featured a Grace Temple choir and a keynote by Alex Walker Griffin urging civic unity and resistance to rollbacks on diversity initiatives.
Diane Vergas, chair of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, opened the county’s 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration with a land and labor acknowledgment and a call to carry forward Dr. King’s legacy through service.
The county named Elena Velasquez as the Student Humanitarian of the Year. Elena, a Richmond high school senior, told the audience that "democracy is a verb," describing years of volunteer work with the Latina Center, Urban Tilth and the North Richmond Farm and saying she leads a 30-member chapter of the National Honor Society. Elena said…
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