Page 31 - All About History - Issue 29-15

Death Of A King

THE DAYS BEFORE Enemies of

As Martin Luther King Jr made the fateful steps towards the King
thatfinaleveninginMemphis,theyears-longCivil You don’t become a fi gurehead
Rights Movement was reaching its crescendo of the Civil Right’s Movement,
nonviolent or otherwise, without
In1968,aftermorethanadecadeofactivism, Americans. Now, King and his compatriots had making some infl uential foes
true change was finally about to become a theireyesonthebiggestprizeofall:amendingthe
realityforAfricanAmericanslivingintheUnited Civil Rights Act of 1964. J Edgar Hoover
States. Despite the abolition of slavery during Despite so many years at the head of the Civil When it comes to counting your
the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, non-white Rights Movement, and legislative change very enemies, having the radical
director of the FBI as one of
citizens still lived a half life, forced into segregation much a reality for African Americans across
them is a feat in and unto itself.
and robbed of the equality championed in the the country, King was still leading the charge While it’s not been proven that
Constitution. Now, with spring in full swing, Martin on all fronts. In 1968, he was organising Hoover had any objection to
Luther King Jr and the Civil Rights Movement had the ‘Poor People’s Campaign’, which aimed King’s objectives in the Civil
Rights Movement, he did attempt
done (to some) the unthinkable: they had changed to address the serious economic deficit to destabilise its progress upon
the opinions of the people with power, people with that alienated poorer areas of society. More discovering communist spies among
the power to change the law. importantly, it was a multicultural cause. King was his top advisers.
Yet with the bill mere months away from being determined to address the poor living conditions of
signed into law, those final days of King’s life all Americans, regardless of ethnicity. Governor George
were becoming a tense affair. The movement was On 28 March, King made his first major push Wallace
splintering, with more aggressive elements, such of the campaign, directing his attention not When George Wallace took
as the Black Panthers group, towards Washington DC the Oath of Office for the
governorship of Alabama, he
bringing negative attention as he had in the past, but brought with him an iron desire
to the cause. Progress was Nothing in towards Memphis and to enforce and maintain racial
being made, but riots were all the world is the ongoing Memphis segregation. It was a stance he
becoming as common as the Sanitation Strike. The pursued for many years, especially
in spite of King’s movements, but
peaceful protests promoted by more dangerous strike – which saw 1,300 he would recant his views in later life.
King. Events were boiling to a black workers walk out
crescendo. than sincere due to dangerous working
Of course, such a radical conditions, discrimination Malcolm X
change did not occur overnight, ignorance and and the horrific deaths While Malcolm X and Martin Luther
King Jr weren’t enemies as
but recent actions had set of two workers – was individuals, their beliefs on how
events into an even swifter conscientious national news, and King to achieve equality for African
motion. The Civil Rights bill was determined to use Americans were, for a certain
amount of time, polarised in
itself had originally been called stupidity Memphis as a catalyst to the extreme. In his early years,
for by President John F Kennedy kick start the campaign. Malcolm X struggled with King’s
in 1963 – charismatic yet ferocious in his political However, an unusual burst of riots and staunch stance of nonviolence,
believing that equality could only be
demeanour, JFK was a force to be reckoned with, violent incidents brought the campaign
achieved through force.
but even he encountered considerable resistance considerable negative press, with high-ranking civil
(and calls for a counter bill) in the Senate. His rights activist Bayard Rustin even pulling out of
assassination later that year rocked the nation, but the campaign because he felt it was too broad Stokely Carmichael
Once upon a time, a young Stokely
it also passed the presidency to Lyndon B Johnson and unrealistic in its goals of demanding Carmichael was a devoted and
– a man as passionate about achieving true equality widespread economic rejuvenation. passionate supporter of King’s
for American citizens as his predecessor. On 3 April, King flew into Memphis SNCC, but like many young
King followed the path of the bill with great proper in order to make a speech at the adopters, he eventually became
frustrated with the slow progress
interest, and his presence in many of the Senate Mason Temple (the world headquarters of of the movement. He would
hearings throughout its existence bound the the Church of God in Christ) – his flight was go on to coin and promote the
two together. King met with President Johnson initially delayed due to a bomb threat, but he term ‘black power’ – a phrase King
would describe as “an unfortunate
a number of times as the bill inched towards made it in time to make the address. choice of words.”
completion. Such a realisation enabled King to The speech, I’ve Been To The Mountaintop,
begin to focus his attention elsewhere: specifically, became one of King’s most iconic and well-known Omali Yeshitela
the need to improve the lives of the USA’s poorest orations. “Somewhere I read of the freedom of Much like Malcolm X, Yeshitela
people and his opposition to the Vietnam War. assembly,” he declared. “Somewhere I read of (born Joseph Waller) rejected
By 1968, the efforts of Martin Luther King the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read King’s ideas of racial integration,
instead believing that the US
Jr and the Civil Rights Movement were finally of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read
(as well as the wider world)
starting to affect the country where it mattered: that the greatness of America is the right could only prosper under black
in government. Three years earlier, the movement to protest for rights. And so just as I say, we supremacy and a new African
had helped usher in the first true legislative change aren’t going to let dogs or water hoses turn us nation. He continued to be active
in violent protests and, unlike
for all citizens regardless of colour – the Voting Act, around. We aren’t going to let any injunction Malcolm X, he never rescinded those
which finally provided lawful rights for African turn us around. We are going on.” supremacist views.
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