On the evening of Thursday, April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. CST, James Earl Ray fired the fatal shot that killed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
The bullet entered through King’s right cheek, breaking his jaw and several vertebrae as it traveled through his spinal cord, severing his jugular vein and significant arteries in the process before lodging in his right shoulder. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.
Ray murdered a celebrated activist for civil rights and justice for all, but that’s not where King’s legacy ends. As the 57th anniversary of his death approaches, it’s best to remember his life and call for peace, justice and equity for all people.
Despite being an American hero, if King were alive and fighting for freedom today, he would be viewed as a man wrongly promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and his “wokeness” would be seen as a dire threat to the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) agenda.
As he prepared to pull the trigger that took King’s life at 39 and changed the course of human history, did Ray see, a son, brother, husband, and father, a person who skipped the ninth and 12th grades and entered Morehouse College at 15 or someone who had traveled to India to visit the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and rededicate himself to nonviolence?
Did he see an activist who proclaimed his “dream” at the March on Washington in August 1963 and called for America to withdraw from Vietnam during the war?
When he saw King open his hotel door, was he viewing a man in Memphis solely to support a strike by Black sanitation workers for fair wages and working conditions, or a prophet who had received more than 400 honorary degrees and awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize?
Less than 24 hours before his death, King delivered his last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” to an audience of 3,000 at the Masonic Temple. In those remarks, amid death threats and several attempts, he reflected on his life’s work, concluding with the words, “So, I’m happy tonight, I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
With King known as a great orator, as profound as those words were, they were not the only memorable ones in his last speech.
Earlier in his remarks, Dr. King guided the audience through “a panoramic view of the whole of human history,” referencing: the assembly of Aristotle, Plato, and Sacrotes assembled at the Parthenon; the Great Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration to Americans that, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” As the sanitation’s workers were protesting in Memphis, he also mentioned the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the 1963 March on Washington and rallies for freedom in Birmingham earlier that spring.
However, his most prophetic words came when he said: “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. 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!”
While King foreshadows his own death, he also offers shares with audiences in Memphis and people today a vision of a “promised land.” Like the people of enslaved Hebrews of Israel, who reached the Promised Land without Moses, King offers hope that one day Black people, and Americans overall, will reach a true moment of freedom and equity, even if he’s not alive to see it.
He died the next day.
In this modern era, in which President Donald Trump has eliminated federal DEI programming, threatened to revoke funding for teaching critical race theory and mandated erasing parts of Black and Native American history in all Smithsonian institutions, it’s clear Americans have yet to reach King’s promised land.
Nonetheless, may we today embrace the social, economic, and political challenges, using his nonviolent philosophy of courage, conviction, and determination.
We must remember King’s advice throughout his ministry and on April 3, 1968, the day before his death, calling all people to speak out against hate and injustice.
“Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness, let us stand with a greater determination, and let us move on in these powerful days,” King said, “these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be.”
Trump’s efforts threaten to erase King’s work and progress, and are reminiscent of a time when America was not “great” but permitted hateful and racist policies and emphasized division.
Despite trials, we can, like the fallen civil rights martyr, fight against injustices through boycotting racist companies and systems, speak out for freedom and march for peace and justice.
Just as King said 57 years ago: “We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.”