Thinking of MLK Jr. and the Dion song today, a day to reflect on where we are as a society and community.
One memory; I will never forget the morning 50 years ago when my elementary school teacher began the class by stating; “children, something terrible has happened.” Until the night before, I had never heard the name MLK Jr. Within a day or two, my mother purchased a photo of Dr. King and placed it on top of our old console TV set, and she bought a Life Magazine style photo book of Dr. King and a phonograph record of his speech at the March on Washington.
I turned 6 in July of that year, so I don’t remember a lot. I do remember hearing about the riots. What stood out to me most was Walter Cronkite giving the American casualty count in Vietnam every day.
My parents had a house full of company; we kids were upstairs watching TV.
The news came on, and it and the riots were on every single channel. I went downstairs and interrupted the party-- I didn’t know exactly who Dr. King was, but I could tell his death was something my parents needed to know about.
I was home alone (I was 12) - mom was at a friend’s house, dad was in the hospital. The TV show I was watching was interrupted for the horrible news. Dad said he heard it on the small transistor radio he had with him at the hospital, and cried. So 44 years later when we were in DC for S2’s college graduation, I made sure we all went to the MLK memorial to honor both MLK’s and my father’s memories.
I was 5, and the memory I have is of his funeral. I had been out playing and came inside to find my mom sitting on the floor in front of the TV, crying. I asked her, “Mom, are we kin to him?”
I was a 9 year old white child living in the whitest of all possible environments with, I believe, not a single person of color in my entire school district. While I vividly remember learning of JFK’s assassination, I have no recollection of MLK’s.
I don’t remember hearing about the actual assassination (I was 7), just the tanks rolling down the streets of Cleveland near my grandmother’s apartment in response to the riots. We were supposed to be going to Washington, DC for spring break, but that plan got scrapped. Interestingly, I didn’t get to DC till just after college and I’ve lived here ever since.
My dad lost his job in the south for the civil rights work he was doing. He went to white neighborhoods in Selma in order to try to get some support for the marchers.
Death threats used to be phoned into our home.
I was too little to remember the assassination. I should ask my sister if she remembers it.
The whole year was awful, although most of what I ‘remember’ I remember from reading history. There were riots in many cities with many people killed after the MLK assassination, then two months later RFK was assassinated, then the Democratic Convention and the violence outside it. Then Nixon was elected that November. And it was one of the worst years in Vietnam.
I am older than most of you. I was in my dorm room in college and it was so shocking and sad. We had a memorial march the next day. Actually the entire year was traumatic.
I remember waking up to my clock-radio reports of rioting. I was in 7th grade - kind of a “ worried about everything “ age. Seems like the evening news those years were just nothing but turbulence. Racial injustice, the war… I was too young to understand but old enough to want to.
I wasn’t alive when MLK was murdered, but for the past week I have been teaching my home schooled D about the civil rights movement. Today we watched videos about Selma and the March on Washington. She had previously memorized the words to his “I Have a Dream” speech, and today we watched and listened to his powerful oration. After it ended, D looked at me with a tear-stained face and said, “If only he had lived. I can’t imagine how much better our country would be today.”
His premature passing was a national tragedy, the consequences of which are still felt.
Watched a PBS report on Dr. King last night. First time in a while that I held it together watching one of those shows; usually I end up in tears. Don’t know if I will be able hold the tears when the reminiscing begins regarding Bobby Kennedy this June. I can’t sit through Ted’s eulogy without losing it emotionally. Same with Dr. King’s “Mountaintop” speech.