Race Jones
gangster. grace. alchemy
It’s been 49 years to the day that civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.
King, a defender of nonviolence in the fight against racism, was gunned down on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. The assailant, James Earl Ray, shot and killed him from another hotel nearby. King was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon after arrival.
The reverend had delivered a stirring, yet eerily prophetic speech at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis the night before.
“I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you,” King told the audience, “but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
REST IN POWER
