King: A Life

by Jonathan Eig

The nightmare began two weeks later when four innocent girls were killed by a bomb in a Birmingham church, and it continued as cities such as Los Angeles and Detroit erupted in flames, and went on still as he faced a barrage of bricks and rocks in Chicago.

I still have a dream, because, you know, you can’t give up in life … I have a dream that one day men will rise up and come to see that they are made to live together as brothers. I still have a dream this morning that one day every Negro in this country, every colored person in the world, will be judged on the basis of the content of his character rather than the color of his skin … I still have a dream that one day

the idle industries of Appalachia will be revitalized, and the empty stomachs of Mississippi will be filled, and brotherhood will be more than a few words at the end of a prayer … I still have a dream today that one day justice will roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream … I still have a dream today.

“We weren’t convinced that the Poor People’s Campaign could be controlled,” said Stoney Cooks, an SCLC staffer who attended the meeting on King’s birthday. As doubt crept in about King’s leadership, others in the organization pushed their own agendas.

James Bevel and Jesse Jackson acted as if they hoped to break away or perhaps even supplant King, said Cooks.

He didn’t want a long funeral, he said. He didn’t want his eulogist to talk about his Nobel Peace Prize or his college degrees. “I’d like someone to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others,” he said, his voice loud, strong and quavering, the word “tried” full of grit and gravel. The congregation was rapt. His father was silent.

I’d like for someone to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody! I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question! I want you

be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry … I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity! Yes, if you want to say that day that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace, that I was a drum major for righteousness, and all of the o...

On March 4, the FBI sent the “messiah” directive to all its field offices, naming King as a “primary target” and ordering all agents to move into action within thirty days.

Years later, Andrew Young would say he and others close to King failed to appreciate the panic federal officials felt over the upcoming campaign in Washington. “There was a determination to stop us that we didn’t realize,” he said.

March 16, twelve days after the “messiah” directive, King ended any hope of a reconciliation when he announced to reporters that he would not support the president’s bid for reelection.

it all came down to Vietnam now, King said.

“The thing I feared from the first day of my presidency was actually coming true,” Johnson said in an interview years later. Robert Kennedy had set out to “reclaim the throne in the memory of his brother … The whole situation was unbearable for me.”

The next day, King entered Mason Temple in Memphis at 9:07 p.m., coming in through a side door. Every seat was filled, and the doorways and aisles were jammed. He was more than ninety minutes late, but his delay only energized the crowd of ten thousand.

King escalated the pressure, urging all Black people in Memphis to stop working if the city refused to agree to the strikers’ demands.

The sanitation workers’ strike, noted The Commercial Appeal, had suddenly become something bigger and more dangerous: it had become a racial protest.

Behind King, members of the Invaders street gang used the placards to shatter windows.

Police ushered King away from the melee. In the aftermath of the violence, the white media blamed King. It was the riot white city leaders and the FBI had predicted.

King talked about a hunger strike and wondered if the divided leaders of the civil rights struggle would come together around his deathbed.

He just unloaded, unburdened himself.” King, who seldom lost his temper, came down with surprising force on James Bevel and Jesse Jackson, accusing them of selfishness.

Bevel, Jackson, Hosea Williams, and James Orange would leave immediately for Memphis to orchestrate another march. The remaining staff would accelerate the Poor People’s Campaign.

Now, as he arrived again in Memphis, King returned to his usual choice of lodging: the Lorraine Motel.

Television and newspaper reporters not only identified his motel but also gave the exact room. It was room 306, located on the second floor, with a sweeping view of the motel’s grease-stained parking lot and empty swimming pool.

City of Memphis had obtained a federal injunction barring them from holding any demonstrations for ten days. One reason for the injunction, according to an attorney for the city, was that King’s life might be in danger.

That night, King met with leaders of the Invaders street gang, pleading with them to refrain from violence. He phoned Coretta to say things were going well. He told her about the injunction and said he planned to march whether it was lifted or not.

But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.

And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life … But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land.

may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! The audience roared, and King roared back. So I’m happy tonight! I’m not worried about anything! I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory— This time, as the audience roared, a tiny smile flashed across King’s face. It disappeared as fast as it came, and he took a breath. —of the coming of the Lord!

Abernathy looked in his best friend’s eyes and saw tears.

On my most recent visit to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., in the spring of 2022, I found none of King’s books for sale in the gift shop. Our simplified celebration of King comes at a cost. It saps the strength of his philosophical and intellectual contributions. It undercuts his power to inspire change.