Democracy Now: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In our special broadcast from Memphis, we speak with former sanitation worker and union leader Taylor Rogers and community organizers in Memphis and led a local black power group called the Invaders. Cabbage and Smith were working with Dr. King to organize the march in Memphis in support of the sanitation workers.
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Today is Martin Luther King Jr. day. Dr. King was born January 15, 1929. He was murdered on April 4th 1968. This year - had he lived - he would have been 78 years old.

In the early 1960s, King focused his challenge on legalized racial discrimination in the South where police dogs and bullwhips and cattle prods were used against Southern blacks seeking the right to vote or to eat at a public lunch counter. After passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, King began challenging the nation's fundamental priorities. By 1967 he had come out against the war and for the poor giving major addresses opposing the Vietnam war and organizing a major Poor People's march to take place in Washington D.C.

In March of 1968, King came to Memphis to support striking African-American sanitation workers who were demanding better working conditions and facing massive resistance from white city officials. Days before he died he was to lead a march in Memphis - he was assassinated.

* Taylor Rogers, former sanitation worker in Memphis. He and 1,300 of his fellow workers went on strike in 1968. He later served as president of the local Memphis branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees or AFSCME union for 20 years.
* Charles Cabbage, long time activist and community organizer in Memphis. He helped lead The Invaders, a black power group active at the time of Dr. King's assassination. He met with King hours before he died.
* Coby Smith, long time activist and community organizer in Memphis. He helped lead The Invaders, a black power group active at the time of Dr. King's assassination.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/15/1534250

As a young aide, the Reverend Jesse Jackson was with Dr. King on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. We speak to Rev. Jackson about the killing he witnessed before his eyes.

The Reverend Jesse Jackson was one of Dr. King’s aides and was there with him when he was assassinated. We caught up with him here in Memphis this weekend.

* Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/15/1534259

We speak with retired Memphis police sergeant Jerry Williams about the day Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. Williams, who worked in the homicide bureau, was twice assigned to head King’s security team on his visits to Memphis, but on the day he was assassinated, Williams says no black officers were assigned to King’s detail.

* Jerry Williams, retired Memphis police detective.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/15/1534255

The Lorraine Motel is today part of the National Civil Rights Museum. On the balcony outside room 306, where Dr. King last stood, museum co-founder Judge D’army Bailey talks about Dr. King’s legacy and the long struggle for the museum that honors it.

* Judge D’Army Bailey, circuit court judge in Memphis and co-founder of the National Civil Rights Museum.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/15/1535210