Downtown march honors route clergy took 50 years ago
On an unusually cold and blustery Saturday, Dean Andy Andrews walked out the back door of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and led hundreds of people down Poplar Avenue to Memphis City Hall.
As he walked, he held in front of him a golden processional cross.
It was the second time that cross had made that journey.
Saturday’s “From Cathedral to City Hall” march of clergy and congregants from across the city honored the same route taken 50 years earlier by 150 clergy members on April 5, the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death just a mile or two away.
In 1968, those who marched to City Hall demanded then-Mayor Henry Loeb put an end to the sanitation workers’ strike that had brought King to Memphis.
Saturday’s march was a re-commitment to many of the same ideas and rights the sanitation workers fought for, as speakers called for a living wage for all, and an end to the poverty that so tightly grips too many Memphians and Americans.
The event included six of the original clergy members from 50 years ago, including Rev. James Lawson.
In a multi-faith service before the march, Lawson spoke of the “I Am A Man” marches as a call for recognition of each person’s humanity.
“We must affirm that we are, each of us, somebody,” Lawson said.
Differences between people, he said, are meant to make us unique — not divide us.
Rev. Dr. James Netters, who was a city council member in 1968, told the story of trying to resolve the sanitation workers’ concerns with a resolution in the days leading up to King’s death.
The council was set to vote on a resolution with veto-proof support to give the workers the wage increases and union recognition they demanded, Netters said, when that bullet struck King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
Netters, who had seen King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, knew as soon as he heard King had been shot, that his great leader was dead.
“My reaction was, they killed my man,” Netters said.
Two white city council members then backed away from the resolution, he said, not wanting to look like they were appeasing anyone in the wake of King’s death.
Saturday’s march, unlike in 1968, found the mayor of Memphis waiting to greet those who made the mile trek to City Hall.
Mayor Jim Strickland gave a short speech in the outdoor plaza, kicking off a second program of speakers.
“You are the conscious leaders,” Strickland said to the clergy in attendance. “We look to you and we appreciate your leadership very much.”
As Strickland continued, several people called from the crowd, “Free Manuel!” They were calling for the release of Manuel Duran, a Memphis reporter facing deportation.
Duran, 42, of El Salvador, is now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but was arrested by police in Memphis during a protest he was covering on April 3. Prosecutors dropped the charges, but federal agents took him into custody the same day.
Duran identifies himself as an independent journalist who owns Memphis Noticias, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In that role, he’s interviewed highlevel officials, including Strickland.
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.