Scholarship recipients and educators shared the spotlight with 2006 winners of the King and Parks awards at the Monday luncheon attended by more than 400 guests.

Guest speaker Paul L. Hamilton, a Colorado educator and former legislator, noted that in Denver, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was being celebrated by a huge march in what was predicted to be a major snow storm.

"And it is impressive that all of you are here, not for a party, but to deal with life issues, racial issues, and [it may not be snowing] but you are walking the walk . . . and your children are with you."

Hamilton, author of African People's Contribution to World Civilizations, said there has been progress since 1968, but that the economic gap is getting bigger.

"There's Oprah and Bill Cosby, but a lot of others are struggling. Being educated for today is not enough, our children have to be educated for the future," he said.

Emphasizing the importance of education, Rep. Duane Bourdeaux, D-Salt Lake City, winner of the 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. Award, thanked his junior high school teacher, Bryant Junior High School Principal Frances Battle. Statewide seventh-grade essay contest winner Sierra Smith was there with her teacher Jennifer Allred; University of Utah students Clem Collins IV and Andrew Aliganga received scholarships; and Valerie Ahanonu received the Larry H. Miller Scholarship from Miller in person.

"I think Ed [event chairman Edward Lewis] mentioned 'movies' when he introduced me," Miller deadpanned, an apparent reference to his decision to yank the gay Western romance "Brokeback Mountain" from his theaters. "Maybe I shouldn't be in that business, either," he said. "But there are fun things I get to do and presenting this scholarship is one of them."

NAACP Salt Lake Branch president and recipient of the 2006 Rosa Parks Award, Jeanetta Williams, shared personal memories of Rosa Parks and former NAACP Salt Lake Branch President Alberta Henry, both of whom died in 2005.

"In 1992 we established the Rosa Parks Award. Mrs. Henry assigned me to call Mrs. Parks to see if she would come to present the first award," Williams began.

"I called many times. Each time she said 'Call back in a couple of days.'

"Once she said, 'I don't normally go to cold areas in winter time.'

“I said, 'Mrs. Parks, our mountains are beautiful in the winter.' She said, 'Call me again.' ”

When Parks did agree to come, she told Williams it was because "You are so persistent."

That persistence, and help from Bourdeaux and the late Sen. Pete Suazo, changed what was named Utah's Martin Luther King Jr./ Human Rights Day in 1986 to Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2000. The federal holiday always is on the third Monday in January, which also is the start date of the Utah legislative session.

At the same time, a Bourdeaux/Suazo bill to change the legislative start date to the third Tuesday in January failed.