Officials from the King parade will present framed photos of the queen and Dr. King to Native Hawaiians with an invitation to join the parade to its finish at Kapi'olani Park.

"We have wanted this day for so long," Joyner said.

Hawaiian activist Vicky Holt Takamine said, "Our response will be an oli aloha, or greeting chant, and hula for Queen Lili'uokalani." Native Hawaiians and supporters will join the parade after the brief ceremony.

Nani Rogers, of Kealia, Kaua'i, dances at 'Iolani Palace, where Native Hawaiians and supporters gathered to protest the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the imprisonment of Hawai'i's last reigning monarch, Queen Lili'uokalani. Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser

Jan. 17 is the date of this year's observance of King's birthday (on Jan. 15, 1929) and also the date of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy (in 1893).

Today's joint effort is especially meaningful for Patricia Anthony, president of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Coalition-Hawai'i.

"My father is African-American black and American Indian and my mother is Hawaiian-Chinese," said Anthony, a Wai'anae High School graduate. "To me, Martin Luther King was not only African-American but spoke for the poor and all ethnic minority groups. Queen Lili'uokalani, like Dr. King, was a spiritual person who did not want to shed the blood of Hawaiian people and she also believed in nonviolence.

A candlelight bell-ringing ceremony was held for the 17th year last night at the Honolulu Hale Civic Center in remembrance of Martin Luther King. "Bells ring for peace, it's a symbol of freedom," Joyner said.

The sound of the Nagasaki Peace Bell symbolizes the racial harmony of Shirley Sypert's after-school children's group from Kuhio Elementary that attended last night's bell-ringing ceremony.

Sypert, who is of African-American, American Indian, Caucasian, and French Moroccan ancestry, looks at two of her students — Thiara Brunner, 7, and Charis Yoshimura, 6 — as they prepare to answer the question: Who is Martin Luther King?

"He was a man who had a dream," Thiara said. "Black or white, everyone is equal."

Charis added, "And it takes someone with a dream to make something happen."

Also yesterday, Kanaka Maoli nationals and supporters met at 'Iolani Palace grounds to protest the 1893 overthrow and imprisonment of Queen Lili'uokalani and support independence.