Friday, April 04, 2008

My recollections of the Martin Luther King assassination

I was six years old when the Reverend Martin Luther King was assassinated on this date forty years ago. So it shouldn't surprise most people that my first recollection of King was when the ABC-TV sitcom "Bewitched" was interrupted with by a news report that Reverend King had been shot.

"Who is Martin Luther King?" I asked. My mother incredulously replied "You don't know who Martin Luther King is?"

Again, I was just six, and current events, let alone the Civil Rights movement, wasn't a topic that came up in Kindergarten. And my parents, at that time at least, didn't talk about the turmoils of that era. That would quickly change, or maybe I just became a better listener.

Years later I learned about the importance and tremendous influence of the King and his works.

As for the assassination, it was the first historic event I have a memories of.

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2 comments:

  1. Levois1:42 PM

    I remember my first historic event, Tiannamen Square. I don't remember Challenger and I was old enough to know about that. I might remember Iran Contra and I certainly remember Panama.

    Well anyway this is certainly a good time to reflect on where this country is today. Especially as race relations go. If Dr. King was alive I would like to think that things would be different than they would be under the current crop of Civil Rights leadership. He was taken way too soon.

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  2. Cal Skinner2:15 PM

    I remember when my mother cried when Roosevelt died.

    I was 2 years, 10 months.

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