Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed 40 years ago today. I remember the day very well. My Real Husband was in Divinity school at Emory University in Atlanta. I worked at the university and we both worked as volunteers at East Lake United Methodist Church.
This downtown church was newly integrated. How did this happen in Atlanta in the 60s? The neighborhood changed. After lots of white flight from the church a few people wanted to stay and intentionally open the church to the neighborhood - and welcome everybody.
Along with the new, young, white minister who was a good friend we started Saturday morning programs for the neighborhood. What kind of programs? Anything anybody was willing to teach. We offered auto mechanics, cooking, art, basketball, woodworking and lots more.
Pretty soon the neighborhood people, mostly African American, mostly young began to feel comfortable enough to come to church on Sunday.
When the news came that Dr. King had been shot, the neighborhood (unlike some others) remained calm. We were all devastated but we had work to do. Dr. King was killed in Memphis but buried in Atlanta.
People began coming in from all parts of the country. We set up cots on the gym floor, we gathered food, we drove visitors from the bus station and the airport.
The day of the funeral my husband and I went to see the procession to the cemetery. There were celebrities and politicians but mostly thousands of average people mourning the loss of a great leader.
Dr. King's life of advocating peaceful change had been an inspiration to us - and still is to me.
It would be hard for people to imagine how life in this country was at that time. Racial hatred was the norm. Just seven years prior to this assassination, president John Kennedy was killed.
On the day that Dr. King died, Bobby Kennedy, himself running for president, was in Indianapolis. He had to deliver the news to a mostly African American audience.
A few months later, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed.
I'm sorry that we had to suffer through that terrible time in the life of our country but I'm proud to have been a tiny part of the healing.
***
This downtown church was newly integrated. How did this happen in Atlanta in the 60s? The neighborhood changed. After lots of white flight from the church a few people wanted to stay and intentionally open the church to the neighborhood - and welcome everybody.
Along with the new, young, white minister who was a good friend we started Saturday morning programs for the neighborhood. What kind of programs? Anything anybody was willing to teach. We offered auto mechanics, cooking, art, basketball, woodworking and lots more.
Pretty soon the neighborhood people, mostly African American, mostly young began to feel comfortable enough to come to church on Sunday.
When the news came that Dr. King had been shot, the neighborhood (unlike some others) remained calm. We were all devastated but we had work to do. Dr. King was killed in Memphis but buried in Atlanta.
People began coming in from all parts of the country. We set up cots on the gym floor, we gathered food, we drove visitors from the bus station and the airport.
The day of the funeral my husband and I went to see the procession to the cemetery. There were celebrities and politicians but mostly thousands of average people mourning the loss of a great leader.
Dr. King's life of advocating peaceful change had been an inspiration to us - and still is to me.
It would be hard for people to imagine how life in this country was at that time. Racial hatred was the norm. Just seven years prior to this assassination, president John Kennedy was killed.
On the day that Dr. King died, Bobby Kennedy, himself running for president, was in Indianapolis. He had to deliver the news to a mostly African American audience.
A few months later, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed.
I'm sorry that we had to suffer through that terrible time in the life of our country but I'm proud to have been a tiny part of the healing.
***
