On a day last week when most of Los Angeles was inside trying to stay safe and secure, away from freeway pile-ups and flooding streets, hundreds took to the streets of Downtown as part of a national “Stand for Security” campaign. Dozens more were arrested participating in an act of non-violent civil disobedience by the demonstration’s end.

On Tuesday, April 4, security officers, religious leaders and labor activists marched to protest what they say is rampant poverty among the predominantly black security guards who work in downtown L.A. The march that organizers were calling the “March to the Mountaintop” wound from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) headquarters at Flower and Seventh streets, through Downtown to the symbolic center of the city’s wealth, Bunker Hill.

The demonstration paused in and around the lobbies of a number of Downtown high-rises including the Library Tower, an alleged target of thwarted terrorism in 2003. Workers involved with the march said that they are not fairly compensated for keeping major buildings safe from terrorism threats and other security issues.

The march ended at Grand Avenue, where between 15-20 people, mostly activists, sat in the street refusing to let traffic pass until they were arrested.

Tuesday’s march also marked the 38th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination, which organizers hoped would connect the cause of workers’ rights with that of civil rights. Rev. James Lawson, an influential civil rights activist who first invited King to Memphis Tenn., helped organize the demonstration.

“We need stronger communities and safer buildings, not dead-end jobs and disrespect,” said Rev. Lawson, who helped organize the march partly in honor of King.

According to the protest organizers, more than 90 percent of security officials in the city of Los Angeles are African American and Latino. Many of them live in the communities of South L.A.

By some estimates, there are nearly 10,000 security guards employed in downtown Los Angeles, according to L.A. Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). A spokesperson for LAANE maintained that the campaign is concerned with public safety, but also the community issues of poor wages for workers. The Stand for Security campaign is coupled with a union organizing effort-the largest effort among African Americans in any privatized industry.

In a statement by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)-an AFL-CIO affiliate-the union noted, “Security officers protect multi-million dollar properties but earn poverty wages and unaffordable health benefits. If security officers are able to earn higher wages and family health benefits, as the janitors who work in the same buildings do, more than an estimated $100 million more would flow into South Los Angeles each year.” SEIU is the nation’s largest security officers’ union.

Just a few hours earlier in New York, Rev. Jesse Jackson led a similar march through Manhattan as part of the Stand for Security campaign that is currently active in nine major U.S. cities.