40 Years On

40 years on, Martin Luther King's dream still elusive

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AFP) — Thousands mourned Friday the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King 40 years ago, but embraced a recommitment to his dream of equality.

"We are here because destiny has drawn us here," his youngest daughter, Reverend Bernice King said as she addressed a huge crowd at the spot where he was shot to death at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, a day after rallying striking sanitation workers.

The date marked a new chapter in the fight against poverty, militarism and racism, she said.
Thousands honored King's achievements but noted the need for more progress on equal rights.
"I feel Dr. King paid the price and he did a lot to help us all -- black and white," said Sandra Gause of Atoka, Tennessee, who made the trip to Memphis with her husband.
"But there's still a lot of work to do."

King's children placed a wreath on the spot he died, now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum, in honor of the country's most hallowed fighter for justice for black Americans.
Earlier in the day they placed a wreath on the grave in Atlanta where King and his wife Coretta Scott King are buried.

While the day took on a political bent as two of the three presidential candidates spoke at the Memphis site, at the evening memorial service -- police estimated at least 10,000 were there -- King's children focused on calling for a renewed effort to end poverty.

King's son Martin Luther King III -- who heads the nonprofit organization Realizing the Dream -- proposed to hold a march on Washington this year similar to the historic gathering his father headed in 1963.

That was when he delivered his landmark "I Have A Dream" speech that galvanized the civil rights movement with a message of equality and non-violence.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,'" King told the crowd at the capital's Lincoln Memorial.

"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 character."

Five years later, at just 39, he was shot dead by escaped inmate James Earl Ray, while he was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968.

Ray alone was jailed for 99 years for the murder, but many still suspect he did not act alone and that others were involved.

Coming in the middle of a heated presidential race that features Democratic candidate Barack Obama, the first African-American to stand a strong chance of winning the White House, the day of mourning for King was tinged by politics.

In Memphis Obama's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton recalled how King made a lasting impression on her, when at 14 she shook his hand, after listening to him speak in Chicago.
With tears welling in her eyes, Clinton described her despair on his death.

"It felt like everything had been shattered. Like we would never be able to put the pieces together again," she said.

Obama, who did not appear in Memphis, held a moment's silence for King at the beginning of an Indiana rally.

"Through his faith and courage and wisdom, Dr. Martin Luther King moved an entire nation," he said. "When he was killed ... it left a wound on the soul of our nation that has not yet fully healed."

Republican candidate John McCain also spoke in Memphis.

"Dr. King stirred the conscience of our nation to ensure that the self-evident truths of human freedom held true for all Americans."

But McCain was heckled when he admitted he had been wrong to initially oppose creating a federal holiday in King's honor.

"I was wrong and eventually realized that in time," McCain said.

Jesse Jackson, one of King's heirs in the civil rights movement, told CNN that despite advances there are still glaring divisions between black and white in America.

"We have among blacks, more unemployment, 2.5 million African-Americans in jail. We have an unfunded moral imperative to invest in healing the structural inequality," he said.

Black leader Al Sharpton blasted the presidential candidates for their appearances in Memphis.
"The question is who's going to do what Dr. King stood for, not the question of who's going to do drive-by appearances," he said on CNN.

"None of them are standing on the agenda of Dr. King. Obama comes closest to that."