'Memphis is important:' MLK Jr. remembered on anniversary of his death

On the 55th anniversary Tuesday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, Otis Moss III, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, in front of Room 306, and challenged America to be better.

"Dr. King would say it this way: It's midnight. I have to tell you the bad news; it's midnight in America," Moss said in the speech entitled "Can America be Saved?" "I have to tell you the bad news that our democracy is frayed, in America. I have to tell you the bad news that white supremacy is on the rise, in America. I have to tell you the bad news that misogyny is run amok, in America. I have to tell you the bad news that homophobia is running rampant, in America. I have to tell you the bad news, it's midnight. But the good news is, it's also midnight. You missed your shot. The bad news is, it's midnight. The good news is, it's midnight. Because when you reach midnight, when you go from 11:59 to 12 o'clock, you already know that morning has come. The sun has not yet risen, but morning is already here."

The speech was based on the sermon King planned to give called "Why America May Go to Hell" where he was going to warn that America needed to use its vast resources to end poverty. He was assassinated before he could give it.

"So much of those who honor Dr. King, we have deradicalized Dr. King and frozen him on a mall in Washington with three simple words 'I have a dream,'" Moss said. "But the truth is, Dr. King was a radical, revolutionary warrior and prophet in this nation who sought to transform these yet to be United States of America."

Moss was speaking as part of the National Civil Rights Museum's annual commemoration of the day King was assasinated. The Memphis museum — which is housed on the grounds of the Lorraine, at 450 Mulberry St. — is typically closed on Tuesdays but remained open for regular hours on April 4. Audio recordings of the civil rights leader’s speeches played in the courtyard throughout the day and special events included a mid-day virtual symposium, “Transforming Unjust Economic System," and the evening event “Remembering MLK: The Man. The Movement. The Moment."

The evening event featured speakers, special performances and fraternal tributes. Attendees packed the front of the motel, sitting in the chairs set out and the small hill and standing in the street, to listen to speakers, including Xernona Clayton, a civil rights activist and King confidante, and to watch the presentation.

"This is the first time I've been [here] since," Clayton said from the balcony of the motel. "And I have mixed feelings. I was glad he was in Memphis because he considered this a very, very important task for him, to come to help the people who were struggling with the issue of decency and fair play in a city like Memphis. He left here, but my heart is here."

Clayton told a story of the last time she saw King alive, when she was driving him to the airport to travel to Memphis. She said King's sons, then 10 and seven years old, were begging him not to leave, crying "daddy, don't leave us," something that was unusual for them as they were used to him traveling frequently.

"'I'm coming right back," King told Clayton in the car. "'Because Memphis is important, and I have to go.'"

The changing of the balcony wreath with a moment of silence at 6:01 p.m. CT, when King was shot, brought many in attendance, including State Rep. Justin Pearson, to tears.

It was Ana Priscilla's first time at the museum and to be able to be in Memphis for the event was special, she said. She had traveled from Atlanta and to Montgomery, before coming to Memphis.

"We visited the center, where he's laying with his wife [in Atlanta], and then we went to Montgomery," Priscilla said. "So we're doing the whole thing, from the place where he was born until where his life ended, on this special day. So it was totally unplanned but it worked really, really well and I'm just really happy to be here."

Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901/232-6714.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: National Civil Rights Museum commemorates Martin Luther King Jr.