By Florence M. Howard | SACOBSERVER.COM WIRE SERVICES

MEMPHIS (NNPA) – “Martin Luther King III and Rev. Bernice King for the first time in history made a pilgrimage to the Lorraine Motel on the date of their father’s assassination,” said Beverly Robertson, executive director of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.

The march to the Lorraine Hotel. Photo (c) Tri-State Defender/Real Times News Service / Warren Roseborough. Photo courtesy of NNPA.

She was reflecting on the historicity of the moment observed last week, during the 40th anniversary of their father, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The leader of a nonviolent civil rights movement, Dr. King was assassinated April 4, 1968, while standing on the motel’s balcony. It was his second trip to Memphis to help rally support for striking sanitation workers. His first march on March 28 that year had ended with violence and he had come back to lead another more peaceful demonstration scheduled for April 8.

Now, 40 years later the balcony and the room in which Dr. King stayed are part of the museum, which served as the focal point for last week's commemorative activities.

The 40th anniversary commemoration, which began in February with the opening of a Smithsonian traveling exhibit, “381 Days: Montgomery Bus Boycott Story Exhibit,” hit its stride with the 10th Annual National Convention of the National Action Network, April 2-6 at the Peabody Hotel. It reached its zenith on April 4, drawing civil rights icons, dignitaries, presidential hopefuls, television and movie luminaries, and ordinary people to Memphis and to the museum to reflect and reconnect with Dr. King and his dream.
Friday, April 4 started off with rain and a morning march by Local 1733 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union of workers Dr. King had come to help. Georgia King, 68, was invited by Ruth Davis, the current union president, to lead the march.

King, a Memphis grassroots activist also known as Queen Akua, said that this was a repeat of history.

“Coretta King came back to finish the march on April 8 – the day before Martin Luther King’s funeral – from Clayborn Temple on Hernando to the Lorraine Motel. Rev. Ezekiel Bell was telling everyone to line up and start the march,” she recalled.

Then in her 20’s, King had come to Memphis from Union City, Tenn., in tribute to Dr. King and was chosen to lead the march because of her African-styled garb and head wrap, which became her trademark.

“That first march, I was out front by myself,” she said, noting that she walked 12 to 15 steps in front of Coretta Scott King who was followed by 17,000 marchers.

Now a member of the poverty committee for the Memphis chapter of SCLC, King said the 40th commemoration march brought her full circle. Later that day, King participated in a second march.

“In all, it was a very successful gathering, a very peaceful gathering. And I think it carried the philosophy of Dr. King’s nonviolence for social change atmosphere,” she said.

Some 800-1,000 people took part in last week's march that honored the 1968 sanitation workers and traversed from the AFSCME headquarters on Beale to a rally in the museum courtyard. Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party presumptive nominee, was among those who spoke at the rally. In town for the commemoration, he acknowledged his failure to support a bill that made Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday. His admission was met with a mixture of boos and sympathetic murmurs of “we all make mistakes.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke at a commemorative event held at Mason Temple, the site of Dr. King’s last speech. She recalled meeting Dr. King and shaking his hand when she was a young woman. Later, she too toured the museum.

Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network (NAN), moved the organization’s 10th Annual Conference to Memphis for the 40th anniversary commemoration. He led the second march of the day, from City Hall to the museum, where a candle light vigil took place. The vigil included guest speakers and performers, such as Rev. C.T. Vivian, Dr. Cynthia Griggs Fleming, and the Philander Smith Concert Choir. Forty lanterns were lit and the names of civil rights figures of the past were read.

Fourteen-year-old Samir Ford participated in the NAN march and in the candle light vigil.

“It was very moving to see that 40 years later the dream that Dr. King envisioned is still being carried out among people from all over the world – all colors, all races, all ages – who came to this small city to pay their respects in person,'' said Ford, a ninth-grade student at Memphis’ Central High School.

For Beverly Robertson, the vigil and commemorative march honoring sanitation workers were the most significant among the two dozen or so events happening throughout the city.

“This year’s 40th anniversary commemoration was a time for reflection and reconnection,” the museum director said. “At the vigil, Martin King III spoke and Rev. Bernice King asked the audience to recommit to the principles espoused by King…to eradicate poverty and seek economic parity.”

Robertson said one visitor told her “she experienced an epiphany standing in front of the historic Lorraine Motel and listening to the profound words of Dr. King’s daughter. She understands that she is the manifestation of Dr. King’s dream and has the responsibility to use her life to make a meaningful difference in the continued struggle.”

Martin Luther King III also spoke on April 2 at NAN’s 10th Annual Keepers of the Dream Awards at the Peabody Hotel. King has attended the conference and the awards banquet, traditionally held in New York City, every year.

VIPs attending the awards gathering, hosted by Mo’Nique, included Rev. Jesse Jackson, Tavis Smiley, Cornell West, Bishop Charles Blake, Roland S. Martin, CNN’s Don Lemon, and Memphis Mayor W.W. Herenton, as well as honorees Earl Graves Sr., William Lucy, Cicely Tyson, Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker and Myrlie Evers-Williams. While the Miles College Choir provided entertainment during the awards ceremony, Shirley Ceasar performed at an April 3 gospel concert hosted by the conference.

“I always come to Memphis with mixed emotions,” said King. “My mother lost her husband, I and my siblings lost a father, but the nation perhaps gained a movement.”
King referenced the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, $3 million for Bear Stearns, housing foreclosures and the presidential election. He said the fulfillment of his father’s dream is not if Barack Obama is elected president but when there is parity in healthcare, housing, education and jobs. He concluded by saying that his father was a praying preacher who believed that prayer changes things. He punctuated his point with a Helen Steiner Rice poem about prayer.

Angela Davis, activist, teacher and former Black Panther member, spoke at the University of Memphis about Dr. King and a global civil rights movement. In addition, there were tributes to heroes of the 1968 Sanitation Strike, concerts, symposiums and even a book signing by Clarence B. Jones, the author of “What Would Martin Say?”
Jones – Dr. King’s attorney and speechwriter – was part of the “In Remembrance There is Life” event staged by the National Civil Rights Museum, along with former SCLC Education Director Dorothy Cotton and Memphians Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks, former Memphis Branch NAACP executive secretary Maxine Smith, Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, former Shelby County Mayor Bill Morris, and Dr. Jerry Francisco, the medical examiner at the time of Dr. King’s assassination.

Tavis Smiley brought his PBS television show and radio broadcast to Memphis for commemorative week. He interviewed those involved in the sanitation strike and in Dr. King’s life, including long-time supporter Harry Belafonte.

Also, on April 4, Belafonte and Congressman John Lewis were honored at the April 4th Foundation Commemorative Awards dinner held at the Memphis Cook Convention Center. Belafonte gave a “powerful speech” in which he condemned the audacity of some folks in telling Sen. Obama whom he should and should worship with – resulting in thunderous applause from the audience. Rev. Joseph Lowery was keynote speaker with Angela Bassett as mistress of ceremonies.

Many local activities sponsored by churches, schools, colleges, nonprofit and grassroots organizations, such as the NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Cultural Development Foundation, and the Beloved Community, filled the commemorative calendar of events. More than 75 national and global news outlets covered the events, said Robertson.

This story comes special to NNPA from the Tri-State Defender. Information from the Real Times News Service contributed to this story.