Statue of Martin Luther King Jr., former Supervisor Kenneth Hahn unveiled at Compton church
A statue of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and longtime Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn debuted Wednesday, March 27, at a Compton church, commemorating the historic moment in 1961 when the latter was the only elected official who agreed to welcome the civil rights icon to LA.
Hahn served as a supervisor for 40 years. The former supervisor, according to those who spoke at Wednesday’s unveiling, was known as a champion for people who lived in his Black-populated district at a time of segregation and racial bigotry.
Hahn’s daughter, current Supervisor Janice Hahn, spoke at the statue unveiling at the Archdiocese of North America Unitarian Universalist Church in Compton, formerly the Calvary Community Church of Compton. During her remarks, she described the moment that led to her father meeting King.
“Later that evening, (King) was supposed to preach at Victory Baptist, and the preacher wanted someone to greet Dr. King, somebody official (to) make him feel welcome,” the younger Hahn said about the moment now portrayed in bronze. “Well, the mayor of L.A. had a scheduling conflict, the councilmembers wanted to spend time with their family, the senators couldn’t be reached, the assemblymembers were too busy to go.”
It was the height of the Civil Rights Movement, she added — and King was a controversial figure to some.
But when the elder Hahn, who died in 1997 at 77 years old, got the call to meet the reverend at Los Angeles International Airport, his daughter said, his response was that he’d be honored.
The two men spent the rest of the afternoon together before King’s speaking engagement, with Hahn taking him on a tour around Watts, in his district, and talking with him in his downtown office.
“Dr. King told my father of his hopes and dreams for the country, (saying), ‘Wouldn’t it be great if someday, the children could play together and the adults could work together; we wouldn’t judge each other.”
Years later, after King was assassinated in 1968, the elder Hahn named a Watts hospital he helped build in his honor.
But it was more than the name. The former supervisor brought resources to his district at a time when most politicians would neglect communities where Black people lived, his daughter said.
“There were no swimming pools or parks in his district when he became supervisor,” she said. “He did things in South L.A. that other parts of L.A. County took for granted.”
Reports from an investigation into the Watts Riots in 1965 showed that one of the main catalysts for the rebellion was the lack of access to health care, Janice Hahn said.
“The people in Watts did not have a hospital or health clinic,” the younger Hahn said. “They had to travel all the way Ddwntown for health care; many of them died not because of their injury or illness, but because of how far they had to travel.”
That’s why one of the first thing elder Hahn fought for was a hospital in Watts, his daughter said.
“It was a hard fight, because the rest of the county didn’t always believe that that part of L.A. County deserved the same things that everybody else had,” the younger Hahn said. “But my father fought and built that hospital.”
But first, he called King’s widow, Coretta Scott-King, to ask if he, a White man from across the country whom she likely didn’t know, could name Watts’ first hospital after her husband, Janice Hahn said. It turned out, however, that upon returning home from that L.A. trip years before, King couldn’t stop telling Scott-King about “the White official that was so kind to him.”
“That moment for our family meant so much,” the younger Hahn said.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital still operates today.
“My father always said, ‘I will do what I think my people want me to do,’” the younger Hahn said. “He listened to them and did what he thinks they would be been proud for him to do.
“He was known for supporting and empowering people of color to finally take their rightful place,” she added. “A true public servant.”
The church was the right place for the statue, meanwhile, because the place of worship is a “unifer,” said Bishop L.J. Guillory, the church’s minister, who spearheaded the effort to build the statue.
“We don’t see the barriers that prevent people from being who they are,” Guillory said. “We think it’s appropriate for people visiting the statue to (then) come inside and feel welcome.”
And that echoes the solidarity that Hahn and King built long ago.
These two men happened to live selflessly, doing things for humanity, Guillory said.
And although they are no longer here, “they still live amongst us,” he added, through their contributions — and now in bronze.
“The dedication of the statue means symbolizing two men who were both public servants in the true sense,” Guillory said. “They had a vision, and years later, we can still acknowledge and see that vision: that love and unity is the strongest power on the planet.”
Wednesday’s unveiling was a long time coming, Guillory said. The monument was completed about three years ago, he said, but it was difficult to decide where to place it — so it would be safe from potential vandalism.
Commemorating King and the elder Hahn’s meeting with a statue in Compton is fitting, Guillory said, because that’s where the latter for 40 years had constituents who looked like him and King.
The statue, the bishop also said, is a symbol representing doing the right thing — even when it’s challenging.
“(It) shares with the world that coming out of your comfort zone and speaking up, standing up when it’s not comfortable to do,” he said, “shows your true character.”
The younger Hahn agreed.
“Sometimes you have to do something that you know is right, even if it’s not popular, even if you’re going to be criticized for it,” she said of her father’s service. “And that statue depicting that moment, I believe has shaped me as an elected official.”
And so, the younger Hahn said after Wednesday’s ceremony, she tries to carry on her father’s legacy — by doing what she feels is truly right for her constituents.