UNC Walk for Health to lead solemn walk to
honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
– The UNC Gospel Choir will perform.
– Audio: “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” by Mahalia Jackson
– Audio: Excerpt of Rev. King’s “Drum Major Instinct” sermon
6:30 p.m. – Event ends – Refreshments will be provided.
Why: To help inspire, revise, and rebuild a dynamic new movement of jobs and justice exactly fifty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and release of the historic Kerner Commission report.
“True peace is not merely the absence of some negative force, it is the presence of justice.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Editor’s Notes: Fifty years ago President Johnson appointed a group to find the root cause of the riots and rebellions of the 1960s. The historic Kerner Commission concluded that “white racism” was the key cause of “pervasive discrimination in employment, education and housing”. And that America was moving toward two societies, “one black, one white – separate and unequal.”
According to a report released February 26, 2018 by the Economic Policy Institute, there has been no progress in how blacks fare in comparison to whites when it comes to homeownership, unemployment and incarceration. In some cases, black people are worse off today than they were before the civil rights movement culminated in laws barring housing discrimination and voter suppression, as well as other forms of racial mistreatment.
According to King’s widow, Coretta Scott King, My Life With Martin Luther King, Jr. 1969, King’s last request was to musician Ben Branch, who was to perform at a planned rally later that night. King called down to him from a little balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, “Be sure to sing, ‘Precious Lord, Take My Hand’ for me tonight, Ben. Sing it real pretty”.
Laughing, Branch, said he would.
Solomon Jones who was to drive the car that evening to take King out to dinner, called up to the balcony. “It’s getting chilly, Dr. King. Better take an overcoat”.
King said, “O.K., I will.”
It was almost time to go.
At that moment came the shot. Witnesses said it sounded like a firecracker…