Hundreds pack temple, ‘revisit the mountaintop’
Panelists discuss why Memphis has seen little progress since MLK’s death.
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. stepped up to the podium at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ as a minister, and reassured the striking sanitation workers and others seeking economic and racial justice that their battle cry was being heard around the world.
A day later, as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, he was struck down as a martyr.
On Tuesday, crowds packed the balcony and the ground-floor pews at Mason Temple to remember King’s last night for “I AM 2018: Revisiting the Mountaintop,” a commemoration sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Church of God in Christ.
On this day, the temple was a sacred place not solely because it was a church but because King — a man who spent his life trying to persuade America to live up to the Christian principles of peace and brotherhood — made what would be his final speech there.
“I don’t know what will happen now,” King said that night in 1968, as lightning serrated a thunderous sky. “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. “And I don’t mind. “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place.
MLK biographer urges nonviolence again. Page 8A
But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”
But, said AFSCME President Lee Saunders, the road to that promised land remains rocky and treacherous.
“When communities of color are disproportionately poor, when black communities are disproportionately hurt by mass incarceration, have we reached the promised land?” Saunders asked. “No!” the crowd responded. “(That’s why) I AM 2018 isn’t just a commemoration. It’s a call to action. A call to reach that promised land,” Saunders said.
And King’s youngest daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, told everyone of a speech that her father had planned to give before he was killed — and that if America wanted to get to that promised land, it must heed its warning.
“The title of that speech was, ‘America May Go to Hell,’” she said. “And today, America may still go to hell.”
Bernice King said that the nation had failed to address what her father said were three evils — racism, poverty and militarism — and that failure could doom it.
“Militarism has robbed us of the necessary resources to deal with the social discrepancies in our nation,” she said. “So I stand here 50 years later to say that it’s time for America to repent, that America may still go to hell.”
Others remembered King’s influence over others — and the world.
“One of the greatest beneficiaries of King’s work was my father,” said Paul Chavez, the oldest son of Cesar Chavez. “All of this was woven into the farm workers’ movement for justice …
“As with Dr. King, nonviolence was a moral issue for my dad. He knew that farm workers, like the sanitation workers, were fighting for more than higher wages. They were fighting for respect.”
And Andrew Young, who was on the balcony with King when he was killed in 1968, said that King’s message can still move the nation forward, because it endures.
“Yes, I was there when the bullet struck,” Young said. “But you know the Africans say you ain’t dead until people stop calling your name.
“I’ve been all over the world, and I haven’t been to a place where I haven’t been asked about Martin Luther King Jr.”