As the nation paused Monday to remember civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Los Banos was represented in two parades in Merced County.</p><p>Nearly 100 people congregated at City Hall to celebrate King as they sang "We Shall Overcome" and marched toward First Baptist Church on D Street. Across the county, eight members of the Los Banos Buffalo Soldiers marched in Merced's parade.</p><p>For the 18th year, Kent&#233; Women's Club organized the Los Banos march. Club member Vondell McKenzie told the crowd outside City Hall to march with a purpose.</p><p>"Martin Luther King paid a price for all of us to have the opportunity that we have today," McKenzie said. "So, in that, we want to make sure that we recognize that things that have happened in our lives didn't just happen by themselves."</p><p>Marchers of all ages walked holding signs and pictures with King's likeness. One marcher held a sign that simply read "Coretta" for King's wife, Coretta Scott King.</p><p>Once at the church, several speakers shared their thoughts on King while buffered by a dance performance, songs and a showing of King's "I Have a Dream" speech in the National Mall.</p><p>Beverly Bass, a marcher, listed some King's history-making actions and the Baptist preacher's connections to the church.</p><p>"From the pulpit of his Dexter Avenue [Baptist] Church, he helped to ignite the infamous Montgomery Bus Boycott," Bass said.</p><p>John Grissom, former president of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, urged the congregation to make their voices heard through a right for which King fought.</p><p>"If you want to follow Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s beliefs, vote and make a change," Grissom said. </p><p>Meanwhile, on Merced County's east side, Los Banos Buffalo Soldiers President David Ofwono led his group in Merced's parade of more 1,000.</p><p>Ofwono said Buffalo Soldiers, the Army's black regiment from the Civil War era, are an example of the segregation King worked to eliminate.</p><p>Marching in Merced's parade gave Ofwono the opportunity to meet its 88-year-old grand marshal, Lt. Col. James C. Warren of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen. </p><p>The Tuskegee Airmen was the first all-black aerial military unit in the United States, based in Tuskegee, Ala., in 1941. Because of racial segregation policies, blacks were barred from flying for the U.S. military before 1940, according to the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. website.</p><p>"The man was incredible," Ofwono said.</p><p>Enterprise reporter Thaddeus Miller can be reached at (209) 388-6562 or by email at tmiller@losbanos</p><p>enterprise.com.