■
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P age
C8
J anuary
10, 1996 • T he
P ortland O bserver
ASSASSINATION
Continued from C7
▲
pended on it. “ I f we don’ t have a
peaceful march in Memphis, no
Washington,” he said “ No Mem­
phis, no Washington.”
So, when King arrived in Mem­
phis on A pril 3, a great deal was at
stake, In five days-on Monday, A pril
8-there was to be another march.
This time nothing could go wrong.
Some o f the memphis ministers
greeted King at the airport and
whisked him o ff to the Lorraine
Motel, in the heart o f a black neigh­
borhood, where he checked into room
306, a $13-a-day room with double
beds and a view o f the parking lot and
swimming pool.
Almost immediately, he plunged
into a long, exhausting series o f meet­
ings with the memphis people and his
SCLC associates.
They faced a problem. They city
government had obtained an injunc­
tion from a federal court prohibiting
the march on Monday as a danger to
public safety. King decided that the
march would proceed, injunction or
no injunction. I f need be, he would
defy acourt order. “ I am gong to lead
that march," he said.
Taking a break from the staff meet­
ings, King stepped from his room
onto the porch and surveyed the sky.
The weather was getting worse. A ll
day there had been tornado warn­
ings; now streaks o f lightning flashed,
and it started to rain hare.
The bad weather meant that there
would not be much o f a crowd for a
rally that evening at Mason Temple.
King had said he would speak there,
but he had no desire to address a
mostly empty auditorium. What was
more, it had been a long day, he had
a sore throat, and he was very, very
tired. Back inside the room, he ap­
pealed to Abernathy, “ Ralph, i f this
rain keeps up, w ill you go in my
place?”
A fter some hesitation, Abernathy
agreed, and around eight o ’clock he
left the Lorraine for the rally. King
changed into his pajamas and settled
in for a restful evening by himself.
A t 8:30, the phone rang. It was
A b e rn a th y. “ M a r tin ," he said,
“ you’ ve got to come over. There’ s
not many people-less than two thou-
sand-but they’re so warm, so enthu­
siastic for you....”
“ W ell, you don’ t have to talk that
way to me. You know i f you say
come, I ’ ll come.”
King dressed in a hurry and was
driven through the rain-swept streets
to the temple. It was where he had
spoken to a throng o f 15,000 in
March; this evening less than a sev­
enth o f that number awaited him. In
soaked clothing, they sat up front.
The relentless rain pounded on the
▼
Continued to page C9
"An individual has not
started living until he
can rise above the
narrow confines o f his
individual concerns to
the broader concerns
o f all humanity. ”
“I have a dream
that my four little children
will one day live in a nation
where they will not be judged
by the color of their skin,
but by the content
of their charac
Martin Luther
-M .L.K . Jr.
Vite can all learn from his dream.
Happy Birthday Martin
Q|
from the Boy Scouts of America /i
Cascade Pacific Council
Boy Scouts o f America
2145 S.W. Front Ave., Portland
503/226 3423
C ouncil 492
K O IN (i)
BE PREPARED FOR THE
21st CENTURY
First Interstate Bank
Honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
And His Dream
Mid-K B ea u ty S u p p lies
S a lu te s Dr. M artin L u th er
K in g’s 6 7 th B irth d a y !
¿TCdtTt is one of equality of opportunity, of
privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a
land where man will not take necessities from the many
to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where
men do not agree that the color of a man’s skin
determines the content of his character; a dream of a
place where all our gifts and resources are held not for
ourselves alone but as instruments of service for the
rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every
man will respect the dignity and worth of all human
personality, and men will dare to live together as
brothers...”
Ö
"All progress is precarious, and the
solution of one problem brings us face
to face with with another problem,"
-Dr. Martin L. King Jr
Strength To Love
First Interstate Bank
An Equal Opportunity Employer
5411 N.E. Martin L. King Jr. Blvd.
m B wì
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