TRAMPLING ON THE LEGACY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING

On the night of April 4, 1968 I was working at Baird-Ward printing company, Plant # 2 on Powell Avenue in Nashville. I was 18 years old and a senior at East Nashville High School. Our press crew was just returning from lunch when we received the news that Martin Luther King had been shot in Memphis. At that time we didn't know how seriously he had been injured but I remember some of the racist workers there shouting loud enough for everyone to hear "I hope that son of a bitch dies".For myself, I was not only saddened by the news I was thinking that the crap was about to hit the fan. I was embarrassed when I saw the look on my friends face who was standing next to me. He was one of the few Blacks that worked on the presses. We were called joggers and we stacked magazine inserts as they came off of the press. It was one of the hardest and most back breaking work at Baird-Ward. He was a nice guy that had trained me for that job. Most Blacks at Baird-Ward were either sanitation workers or forklift operators. It wasn't long before the news circulated that MLK was dead.

Almost immediately after learning of his death we also learned that riots were breaking out everywhere in big cities all over the country, including Memphis and Nashville. Plant # 2 was directly across the street from the Tennessee National Guard headquarters on Sidco drive. I can't remember if it was April 4th or the following day April 5th when the National Guard began mobilizing but that area became an armed camp. Sentries were manning posts across the street. Troops in deuce and a half trucks, along with armored personnel carriers were deploying to strategic points all around Nashville. A 6:00 P.M.curfew was ordered by the governor. I worked 2nd shift after school each day and only essential workers and shift workers like myself were allowed on the roads after 6:00 P.M.. For the first time in history the Grand Ole Opry was ordered to suspend programming.

I believe that it was the first night after the curfew began when I was driving home down 8th Avenue South after work. My home was in East Nashville at the time. It was around 11:30 P.M. and Nashville was a ghost town. I was the the only car on the road as far as I could see. Suddenly I saw what appeared to be a large group of people standing in the middle of the road. Although there was light from the street lights I couldn't tell who they were. Not knowing what to do I slowed my car as I assessed my predicament. I realized that if it was a roadblock and I suddenly turned around I would raise suspicion. If it was a mob of rioters this White boy was in a heap of trouble. I decided to keep going but I accelerated to a high rate of speed planning to use my car as a battering ram if I had to. To my surprise I realized that it was roadblock consisting of State Troopers, Metro Nashville police, and National Guardsmen. I was moving so fast that I had to slam on my brakes causing my tires to squeal as I slid to a stop. A Nashville police officer walked up to my car and asked " Wheres the fire son?" Shaking like a leaf and speaking in a quivering voice I apologized and said that I couldn't tell who they were in the dark. He told me to get the hell out of there and to go straight home.

Martin Luther King used the tactic of non-violence to bring about change in America. Change that was long overdue for Black people in this country during the 1950's and 60's. Tactics that were inspired by the lives of Jesus, Ghandi and Thoreau. King not only used non-violence as a tactic he was thoroughly committed to it in his own personal life. He had a cross burned in his front yard, unexploded dynamite was found in his house, his house was fired into by a shotgun blast and was bombed. He received death threats by phone too numerous to count. On one occasion a White man assaulted King in the pulpit and pummeled him before church members could intervene. King never lifted a hand to defend himself. This is how committed he was to non-violence. Many White people that I have known over the years will try to say that King inspired violence and was a troublemaker. Nothing could be further from the truth. I always replied that they owed Martin Luther King a debt of thanks for helping to keep the lid on violence. Many of his colleagues in the movement like Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown succumbed to the lure of a violent movement and Black militancy but King never budged. A testament to our democracy is that non-violence can only work in a society that upholds the rule of law as an ideal. Non-violence will not work in countries like China, North Korea, Cuba or Saudi Arabia. It can only work in democracies. Non violent disobedience in those countries will guarantee your death or a very harsh jail experience where you might wish you were dead.

With all the violence and rioting going on today people need to be reminded of the legacy of Martin Luther King. I believe that if it had been possible he would have condemned the violence that immediately followed his death and he would condemn the violence today. If Martin Luther King could have seen America in April 2008, fifty years after his death, he would have been extremely proud of the America of that time and the progress that we had made toward the dream that he envisioned on that hot day in front of the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963. In April 2008 about 75% of American's of all races approved of the direction we were headed in regard to racial relations. Eight short years later after the disastrous regime of Barack Obama only 45% of American's felt that way. As the first Black president he had a golden opportunity to move us a lot closer to a 100% mark. Instead he stoked the passions of racial division and hatred. By promoting such things as the myth of systemic racism and claiming that racism was in our DNA. As if Whites were born predisposed to racism and could never conquer it. It just comes natural. Obama promoted the growth of terrorist organizations like Black Lives Matter and Antifa by misrepresenting the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. In this toxic environment police officers of all races were made a target and gunned down in the streets. Setting the stage for the turmoil that we see now. No, I am convinced that Martin Luther King would not approve of where we are now in America today.

When America truly had systemic racism it was Kings words and non violent attempts to gain the rights for Black people that Whites took for granted that pricked the conscience of fair minded people. We shook our head in agreement when he reasonably asked for the right of Black people to enjoy a hamburger in a diner, or use the same restroom as Whites, drink from the same water fountain, sit anywhere they wanted to on a bus or in a theater. Yet when people riot and loot it confirms the true racists stereotypical view of Blacks. That they are nothing but a bunch of lazy thugs who want something for nothing. In those circumstances even fair minded Whites have to fight the temptation to develop a knee jerk opinion of Black people. Racism is intellectual laziness and people of all races are susceptible to it. As a White security officer I deal with many Blacks who automatically assume that I am racist because of three things. I am an old, a White male, and I am wearing a uniform. White police officers have to deal with Black prejudice everyday of their lives. I have seen it in action. All Black people are not like this but far too many are. The sad thing is that if just given the chance American's as a people could get over the race issues we face if the race merchant demigods would quit stirring the pot. They can't let it go because it puts money in their pocket and keeps them in power. The rest of us just want to get along. We honor Martin Luther King every year on his birthday but dishonor him by not not living up to his admonition. Judge a person by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. If all races could strive for that we would be a near perfect society. That is the true legacy of Martin Luther King.