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ORDERS TO KILL -- THE TRUTH BEHIND THE MURDER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING |
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Chapter 4: Enter Dr. King: March-April 3, 1968 Although Dr. King had experienced problems and setbacks, particularly concerning his position against the war, no one approached his stature on the national scene as a spokesman for the black and poor of America. His involvement would inevitably focus national attention on the strike, its issues, and its nonviolent tactics. On March 18, the Mason Temple overflowed. Crowds sat on the floor, on the stairs, in the aisles and doorways; scores of others stood in the street. Dr. King entered through a side door, and a human wedge of burly volunteers ,swept him along to the podium. The sound of applause and stamping feet increased to a deafening roar. Reverend Ralph Abernathy, vice president of SCLC, told me it was one of the most moving welcomes he had ever seen. When King advocated a general work stoppage in Memphis, the Temple nearly burst into pandemonium. He sat down to tumultuous applause and then received a note, initialed by Andy Young and Ralph Abernathy, suggesting that he return to lead a march on the day of the work stoppage. Dr. King returned to the microphone and said that perhaps the Poor People's Campaign could begin in Memphis. If the people wanted him to, he would lead such a march to city hall. The response was predictable. The date was set for March 22, four days later. Organizers began to spread the word that Dr . King would return to Memphis to lead a march on Friday from Clayborn Temple to city hall. Ten thousand marchers were expected. White apprehension rose. Hate literature was circulated throughout the city. Then, incredibly, on the day before the march, the city, whose average annual snowfall was only 5.6 inches, was buried by a blizzard that dumped 16.2 inches of snow, the second-largest snowfall ever recorded in Memphis. The city was virtually shut down and the march had to be postponed until Thursday, March 28. Early on the morning of the march, King left New York City for Memphis. Organizers began to intercept students on the way to school or even at the school gates, urging them to join the march. A confrontation between police and students at Hamilton High School resulted in a student being injured. Word spread that the police had killed a girl at the school, and the young people's anger grew. It was not an auspicious start for Dr. King's nonviolent march. The Memphis police department (MPD) was completely mobilized that morning, with over 300 officers supplemented by fifty sheriffs deputies committed to the general march area. Emergency mobile TACT units run by Inspector Sam Evans were also standing by. Each unit consisted of twelve sheriffs deputies and MPD officers, with three cars and four men to each car. This was the first use of a TACT squad in Memphis. Since there weren't enough shotguns to go around, a number of officers carried their personal weapons. The police were anxious. Riot training had been virtually nonexistent in Memphis, except for a special, elite group. Their own constantly circling helicopter only added to the uneasiness. Dr. King was late and the crowd became increasingly restless. Some leaders, such as the Rev. Samuel "Billy" Kyles, wanted to start the march without King, but Reverend Lawson insisted on waiting. For a long time Lawson had tried to involve Kyles in the strike support planning sessions but finally agreed with the others that it was a waste of time -- for Kyles rarely, if ever, showed up; though he frequently attended the public meetings. Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy finally arrived at the march site just before 11:00 a.m., having been driven directly from the airport. They led the march, linking arms with local ministers, but signs of unrest were everywhere. Trouble began in short order as the line of march proceeded up Beale to Main. The sounds of glass breaking, isolated at first, got louder and more frequent. Youths ran alongside the line of march, ignoring the marshals' instructions. Chaos descended, and Dr. King was persuaded to leave the area. A car was flagged down and he was taken to the Rivermont Hotel at the direction of the police, being escorted by motorcycle officer Lt. Marion Nichols. He was given lodging even though he had no reservation at that hotel (rooms having been reserved at the Peabody Hotel). After Dr. King had been spirited away, Lawson moved through the line of march with a bullhorn, urging everyone to return to the church where they had begun. As thousands began to turn around, the sounds of breaking glass continued. Youths darted from one store to another, shattering windows. Some began looting, but eyewitnesses maintain that they were followed by older, more experienced hands who quickly and efficiently took advantage of the window-breaking, entered the stores, and came away with goods. The police moved in behind the disorganized crowd and fired Mace and tear gas. Around 11:30 a.m. Frank Holloman and Mayor Loeb called Gov. Buford Ellington and requested the Tennessee National Guard. By noon, a contingent of the State Highway Patrol was on the way to Memphis and the first National Guard units were assembling. The police and the sheriffs officers randomly clubbed a number of onlookers and customers of stores, pool halls, restaurants, and lounges, which, under the orders of Inspector Sam Evans, were forcibly closed. A sixteen-year-old boy, Larry Payne, was shot and killed by the police who claimed he was a looter, and when cornered, had pulled a knife. An eyewitness said that Payne had his hands up when shot. A knife was allegedly found at the scene, but no fingerprints were on it. That evening, a curfew was put in place and Guardsmen descended on the city from all over western Tennessee, accompanied by eight armored personnel carriers. By Friday morning, 282 persons had been arrested and held without bond; sixty-four persons were treated in hospital emergency rooms by midnight Thursday, with another ten coming in over the weekend. Dr. King was savagely attacked by the media and the Washington establishment. Congressmen tripped over each other in their haste to condemn him and to demand hat on the basis of the Memphis experience the Poor People's Campaign in Washington be called off. Dr. King's SCLC aides, who had had no hand in planning the march, believed that local incompetence had set them up for this disaster. Rev. Lawson believed that the young militants, who hadn't been involved in planning the march either, would have to be brought in with the SCLC. Dr. King met with three leaders of the Invaders Charles Cabbage, Calvin Taylor, and Charles "Izzy" Harrington) the morning after the march, and it was agreed that that Invaders would be fully involved in the planning and development of strategy for the next one. Though depressed over the violence, Dr. King was buoyed by the meeting. At an afternoon press conference he expressed confidence in the new working relationship. He also confirmed that he would take time out from his schedule to prepare for the Washington campaign, and once again return to Memphis to lead a large nonviolent march. This time the SCLC would assist in the planning. Meanwhile, the boycott and local marches would continue. Nonviolence was still seen as the only viable strategy. The following Saturday, March 30, SCLC staff and some board members met in Atlanta to discuss whether to continue in Memphis. Some in the SCLC staff (including newcomer Jesse Jackson) counseled him to cut his losses and turn his attention to the Poor People's Campaign. Ralph Abernathy told me that King privately had made the decision to march again in Memphis, but understandably he wanted the SCLC's support. Finally Dr. King obtained the support he wanted. The decision to return became official on Saturday afternoon, March 30, 1968. On March 31, in an act that I long regarded as unrelated to the events of this story, Lyndon Johnson announced before a nationwide radio and television audience that he wouldn't seek reelection. Fifteen days earlier Robert Kennedy had announced his intention to challenge Johnson for the presidency. I would learn years later that FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had informed Johnson around that time that Kennedy had been attempting to reach Dr. King to advise him of his decision. Kennedy was seeking King's support and participation in what promised to be a difficult and bitter campaign. SCLC organizers-including James Bevel, James Orange and Jesse Jackson-went ahead to Memphis to take over the arrangements for the march, the date of which was firmly set for April 5. Six thousand union members from all over the country were to come to Memphis. One after another, labor and civil rights groups announced their support. On Monday, April 1, Mayor Loeb announced the end of the curfew, and units of the National Guard slowly began to leave, ready to be called up quickly if needed for the next march. The funeral for Larry Payne, the sixteen-year-old casualty of the first march, was held at the Clayborn Temple the next day, followed by a speech by Ralph Abernathy that evening to an overflow crowd. He checked in at the Peabody that evening, but the next day would transfer to the Lorraine when Dr. King arrived. On Wednesday morning, city attorney Frank Gianotti appeared in U.S. district court before Judge Bailey Brown and requested a temporary restraining order against certain named out-of-state residents (King, Abernathy, Hosea Williams, James Bevel, James Orange, and Bernard Lee) to prevent them "from organizing in or engaging in a nuisance parade or march in the city of Memphis." Judge Brown issued the restraining order but set it down for a hearing the next morning. Dr. King's flight arrived in Memphis at 10:33 a.m., having been delayed by a bomb threat. His party was picked up and taken straight to the Lorraine Motel. After checking in, they went to the Rev. Lawson's Church to meet with clergy and union leaders and with one set of lawyers. Then they adjourned to the Lorraine Motel to eat in the restaurant and meet with the BOP group around 4:00 p.m. At that meeting Dr. King agreed to assist in the funding of a black cooperative and a "liberation" school. The Lorraine, today the National Civil Rights Museum, is a two-story building at 406 Mulberry Street, located in a rundown warehouse and rooming house area of the city, five blocks south of Beale Street and a block east of South Main (see Chart 1, the front's piece) .It had been black-owned and operated from its beginning. Walter and Lorraine "Lurlee" Bailey took it over in 1955 when it was a fourteen-room structure. By 1965 it had nearly fifty new units and a swimming pool. It was a family-run motel, with Bailey and his wife doing most of the work and cooking. Checking in with the SCLC advance staff on April 2 were James Laue of the Justice Department's Community Relations Service (room 308) and photographer Joseph Louw, who had been traveling with Dr. King while working on a documentary about the Poor People's Campaign (room 309). Dr. King was scheduled to address a mass meeting at the Mason Temple, and, in spite of a storm, several thousand people were expected. Ralph Abernathy told me that King was tired and wanted to stay at the motel and meet and talk to a few people. As he had done the night before, he asked Ralph Abernathy to stand in for him and address the group. Abernathy remembered entering the side door of the temple, drawing applause as he was recognized. The applause subsided when the crowd failed to see Dr. King behind him. He didn't even attempt to speak but instead went around the side of the hall to a telephone in the vestibule from which he called Dr. King and told him, "Your people are here tonight and you ought to come and talk to them. This isn't my crowd. It's your crowd. I can look at them and tell you that they didn't come tonight to hear Abernathy. They came tonight in this storm to hear King." King came. Tornado warnings had been issued. The storms swept out of Arkansas and across Tennessee and Kentucky, leveling houses, barns, utility lines, and trees. It left twelve people dead and more than 100 injured. The wail of civil defense sirens sounded across the city, adding to the eerie and expectant atmosphere inside the Mason Temple. Dr. King arrived around 9:00 p.m. to rapturous applause. Dr. King's speech, his last, was one of his most famous, and certainly, his most prophetic, ending: ... Like anybody,
I would like to live a long life.
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