This week, we're profiling CCSA staff members who use the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. to empower individuals, strengthen school communities, bridge barriers, and/or create solutions to social problems.   

Today, we highlight an interview with Marco Durazo, a Senior Director with CCSA's Bay Area Local Advocacy team. 

Marco works alongside parents, youth, educators, elected officials and a range of stakeholders to support quality charter schools, address academic inequities and expand educational access in Santa Clara County.

Name: Marco Durazo

Age: 40

Title: Senior Director, Bay Area Local Advocacy

Geographic Area: Santa Clara County

How do you observe MLK Day?
My wife and I always spend time in the community on MLK day engaging in service.

Service to others I would argue is part and parcel of MLK’s legacy. More importantly however, my wife and I reflect on who he was, what he fought for, his message, and ultimately why he was killed. We do this in a manner that honors Dr. King without focusing on the evil that conspired to take him away from us. The day, his memory, and what he gave his life for remain just as salient today as it was when he was alive. Racism, economic inequality, war, and the evils of white supremacy are issues he addressed, spoke out against, and asked others to mobilize peacefully against in order to enact structural change.

How does your life intersect with the civil rights movement or MLK Jr. himself?
As a graduate student at UCLA, I had the honor of serving as a teaching assistant to Reverend Joseph Lawson, one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement and considered by many to be MLK Jr.’s right-hand man and chief strategist with respect to non-violent political action.

Reverend Joseph Lawson (left) is pictured alongside Martin Luther King Jr. as they address the media during the civil rights movement. 

Rev. Lawson was a visiting professor at UCLA the year I worked with him. I had, like my peers, only read about the civil rights movement. To stand before an iconic figure of that movement was both intimidating and awe inspiring. I will keep the experience, stories, and lessons he shared I will keep with me for the rest of my life. I have already discussed this experience with my son Gabriel. I want him to understand the sacrifices folks made for him and his role and responsibility as a member of a new generation to continue the struggle.

As an undergraduate student, CCSA Senior Director of Bay Area Local Advocacy Marco Durazo (right) served as a teaching assistant to Reverend Joseph Lawson at the University of California, Los Angeles. Here he is pictured with Rev. Lawson inside a lecture hall on campus.

What was it like to work alongside this civil rights leader?
Humbling, empowering and thought provoking. One could hear a pin drop when he started to lecture.

How do you apply his teachings to your work at CCSA?
MLK Jr. and Rev. Lawson trained many peaceful protestors who sought to desegregate public facilities in the South. They did so by acting peacefully in the face of violence, aggression, and racial hostility. Like MLK Jr., Rev. Lawson’s lectures were full of hope, the hardship of fighting for justice, and a call to action for a new generation.

My work at CCSA is aiming to expand access, address inequity, and ensure that our most vulnerable young people have access to a quality education. Education, knowledge, and service to others are the great equalizers. MLK embodied these ideals. So does CCSA. To be in a position to apply these values and lessons on a daily basis is a blessing.
In your opinion, what progress has been made in California to ensure children have equitable and fair chances in life?
There remains much to be done. Educational access to quality schools has improved but the data continues to show that our most vulnerable children need additional support, role models, teachers who look like them, and the love and affection to follow their dreams. The challenges are structural, historical, and require collective action and organization. CCSA is a key player in this work.

If you could speak to MLK Jr. today, what would you say?
I would ask him for his wise counsel. In a world full of structural barriers, violence, and continued racism I would ask him how to best organize, strategize, and to continue to build the future he envisioned when he was taken from us. I would also tell him about the legacy he left and that we all play a role in transmitting this knowledge—as Rev. Lawson has done—to new generations.