Marching in Memphis
After having celebrated my birthday on the previous evening, my daughter and I arose to find the day exceedingly wet. We went to the outlet mall in Tunica, MS and loaded up on raingear. Then we set off for the rally which preceded the march. The rally was at the Memphis City Hall. Upon arriving there the rain diminished considerably. The crowd seem to consist of two or three hundred people who were milling around. As many seemed to be leaving as were arriving. This was due to the rain and the fact that the main speakers were not yet present. Despite the steady drizzle and the grayness, there was a carnival atmosphere. Every few feet there was a vendor selling commemorative shirts some with Barack Obama’s picture included next to Dr King’s.
At first the speakers were uninspiring, saying the expected with little enthusiasm. As the rally progressed, the caliber of the speeches and the celebrity of the speakers increased. A speaker who stood out for me was the Reverend Freddie Haynes of Dallas, TX. He made a concerted effort to connect the hip-hop style of today’s youth with the occasion we were commemorating. Some of the other speakers at the rally were Monique, Michael Baisden, Al Sharpton, Steve Cohen, Tennessee’s ninth district’s representative in the US Congress, Willie Herenton, Mayor of Memphis, Charles Steele, President of SCLC, Ralph Abernathy III, Martin Luther King III, etc. The general message was that although conditions have improved for African Americans, there is still a lot to be accomplished.
After all the “speechifying” we finally set off down Main Street. The crowd was in a festive mood and the rain had slacked off to an occasional drop here and there . As we set off a little boy about six years old whose face was almost invisible because of his hood and raingear said, “We’re just walking; I thought we were going to march.” All around us, people were snapping photos and videotaping the occasion. At first we were walking and stopping and stepping on each other’s heel, but after about five minutes, everyone had established a rhythm and spaced themselves out more. As we marched I looked for the businesses I remembered from my childhood, Many were gone. There was no longer a Goldsmith’ s or even its successor Dillard’s. The Malco, a theatre in which I had initially been required to sit in balcony still existed. It now appeared to be used as a concert venue. One of the few establishments that looked the same was the Walgreen’s Drugstore located near where the march began,
As we marched we passed people along the way who had not chosen to join in. some looked at us as if to say what’s going? The papers in Memphis had covered the event, but when I looked for the schedule, it was relegated to an obscure section. The citizens of Memphis were caught up in the hoopla of having a team, the University of Memphis Tigers, in the NCAA Final Four. That was happening now, we were marching for something that happened forty years ago—long before many of the residents of Memphis were born.
Finally we arrived at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The Lorraine Motel with signs intact from that era has been converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. The marchers joined other who had assembled in the parking lot to hear speakers at the site where Dr King was slain. Directly above us was the balcony on which the great man had stood and been killed. On the day of the march there was a wreath of about five feet in diameter hanging from the balcony. As various speakers made their statements additional wreaths were added.
One of the announced speakers was Rev. C. T.Vivian, who had participated in the origin freedom rides to Jackson, Mississippi. He also founded a scholarship program which later developed into Upward Bound. Other announced speakers were Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Bernice King. Al Sharpton asked the crowd to be considerate of the fact that this was the first time the King children had stood on the spot where here father was killed. The crowd hushed some what in anticipation of the Kings; appearances. They did not come out for sometime. The noise level increased again. People were continually trying to push through the crowd to get inside the museum. Others who were just arriving jockeyed for standing room where there was no room.
Finally Bernice and Martin III came out. The crowd hushed. I am sure everyone was thinking how it must feel for them to stand on the spot where there father shed his life blood. After several moments Martin III began speaking. One of the points he made was that he had called on the three candidates left in the race for president to establish a cabinet level position to eradicate poverty. Bernice King spoke and she was very evocative of her father. Four people stood to the side holding lighted candles inside a hurricane lamp. Finally doves were released to signify the end of the ceremony and the march.
There were awards dinners scheduled later in the evening. But this concluded the experience for me. Overall, it was a very moving experience. We had been asked to rededicate ourselves to the movement. We were asked not to forget those who still lingered in poverty and injustice. We were also reminded to support the Martin Luther King Memorial being erected in Washington, D.C. The Dream lives on.
