King's children, compatriots continue his lifelong fight
Posted Sunday, April 6, 2008
They came to Memphis by the thousands, a mix of pilgrims seeking a connection with their hero and activists tugged by their social consciences -- or, in some cases, a blend of both. There will never again be a 40-year commemoration of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Al Sharpton said Friday, pointing out the obvious but intent on linking the events in Memphis last week with a sense of the profound and important. Bernice Albertine King, King's daughter and very much his heir as a preacher able to stir the emotions and the intellect, seized on the age-old significance of the number.
They came to Memphis by the thousands, a mix of pilgrims seeking a connection with their hero and activists tugged by their social consciences -- or, in some cases, a blend of both. There will never again be a 40-year commemoration of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Al Sharpton said Friday, pointing out the obvious but intent on linking the events in Memphis last week with a sense of the profound and important. Bernice Albertine King, King's daughter and very much his heir as a preacher able to stir the emotions and the intellect, seized on the age-old significance of the number. Thelma Johnson of Chicago gets in the spirit Saturday morning at the National Action Network 2008 National Convention at The Peabody in a rally featuring Rev. Al Sharpton. "According to the Bible, 40 is the number of generation, 40 is the number of no longer wandering in the wilderness," she said. "So as we come to Memphis today, we come closing a chapter in American life. We will no longer wander around poverty. We will no longer wander around militarism. We will no longer wander around racism." Nearly 1,000 endured morning rainstorms for a march from the sanitation workers' union hall on Beale Street.
A crowd four or five times that many participated in a "recommitment" march in damp, chilly weather down Main Street, organized by Sharpton's National Action Network. Speakers often sought to address the question of how much
progress had been made since King came to Memphis pushing an agenda focused on three main pillars -- nonviolence (including opposition to the Vietnam War), individual and collective racism and poverty.And so the speakers could rail on the war in Iraq, could point to the poverty rate staying close to 1968 levels (and widening income disparities between the rich and poor) and could remind how the war on drugs has led to skyrocketing incarceration rates among black men. "Sometimes it seems as if we have traveled 1,000 miles in a second, and yet we are almost back at our point of origin," said Jessie Epps, the union organizer sent to Memphis in 1968.
Yet, progress was also acknowledged -- and celebrated. Sharpton's rally Friday was staged in front of City Hall, with Memphis' black mayor, Willie Herenton, providing a welcoming speech. Many speakers also addressed the challenge the black community faces from within. "All of our hell is not coming from white folks," said Charles Steele, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that King once led. "I don't care if it's black or white. If you are stopping progress, get the hell out of the way. Negroes, you got to hear the truth." Citing her father's final speech on April 3,1968, Bernice King recalled his statement that it would be a "tragedy" if the movement stopped in Memphis.
"We must not stop here," she said. "We shall not stop here. I say to you, 'Let's continue moving.'"
A crowd four or five times that many participated in a "recommitment" march in damp, chilly weather down Main Street, organized by Sharpton's National Action Network. Speakers often sought to address the question of how much
progress had been made since King came to Memphis pushing an agenda focused on three main pillars -- nonviolence (including opposition to the Vietnam War), individual and collective racism and poverty.And so the speakers could rail on the war in Iraq, could point to the poverty rate staying close to 1968 levels (and widening income disparities between the rich and poor) and could remind how the war on drugs has led to skyrocketing incarceration rates among black men. "Sometimes it seems as if we have traveled 1,000 miles in a second, and yet we are almost back at our point of origin," said Jessie Epps, the union organizer sent to Memphis in 1968.Yet, progress was also acknowledged -- and celebrated. Sharpton's rally Friday was staged in front of City Hall, with Memphis' black mayor, Willie Herenton, providing a welcoming speech. Many speakers also addressed the challenge the black community faces from within. "All of our hell is not coming from white folks," said Charles Steele, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that King once led. "I don't care if it's black or white. If you are stopping progress, get the hell out of the way. Negroes, you got to hear the truth." Citing her father's final speech on April 3,1968, Bernice King recalled his statement that it would be a "tragedy" if the movement stopped in Memphis.
"We must not stop here," she said. "We shall not stop here. I say to you, 'Let's continue moving.'"
Source of this Topic: http://www.nationalactionnetwork.net/
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