Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the firm advocate of nonviolence, passed away in the year of 1968. The year of 1968 was a year that was one of the most important years in all of human history to put it lightly. It changed America and the world with its events, cultural changes, and other political developments. At the start of January 1968, anti-Vietnam War activists Dr. Benjamin Spock, William Sloan Coffin (the chaplain of Yale University), novelist Mitchell Goodman, Michael Ferber, and Marcus Raskin were indicted on charges of conspiracy to encourage violations of the draft laws by a grand jury in Boston. They protested legally and the indictment is an example of a political persecution. The draft is about forcing a grown man or grown woman to potentially fight a war even if he or she disagrees with that war. The only exemption is applying for a conscientious objector. The four men would be convicted, and Raskin was acquitted on June 14th, 1968. The Vietnam War existed with the President Lyndon Baines Johnson giving his State of the Union Address on January 17. Later, there was the crew of the USS Pueblo (a Navy intelligence vessel) being captured by North Korean patrol boats. The Tet Offensive existed. The Tet Offensive was about North Vietnamese military forces fighting from Nha Trang to all over the Vietnamese peninsula starting on January 31, 1968. The nearly 70,000 North Vietnamese troops fighting broad daylight from the jungles to the cities. Even the U.S. embassy in Saigon was attacked by 2:45 am and it was held until 9:15 am. It took place for weeks, and the U.S. was victorious in the battle. Yet, the American public saw how the war was a stalemate, and the situation was brutal. Many knew about the picture showing a south Vietnamese security official is captured on film executing a Viet Cong prisoner by American photographer Eddie Adams. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph becomes yet another rallying point for anti-war protestors. Despite later claims that the prisoner had been accused of murdering a Saigon police officer and his family, the image seems to call into question everything claimed and assumed about the Vietnam War.
1968 saw Nixon running for President by February 2, 1968, for the Republican Party. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. continues to travel the world to fight for justice and oppose the Vietnam War. On February 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a sermon at his Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta which will come to be seen as prophetic. His speech contains what amounts to his own eulogy. After his death, he says, "I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody... that I tried to love and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to, say that I was a drum major for peace... for righteousness." Vietnam caused tons of Americans and Vietnamese human beings to die. By February 27, 1968, Walter Cronkite reported on the aftermath of the Tet Offensive in his television special called, "Who, What, When, Where, Why?" The report criticized U.S. officials and exposes how the war was really conducted. Cronkite said that the war was a stalemate or draw. He wanted negotiations for all sides to end the war. When the March 12 New Hampshire primary allowed Eugene McCarthy to be close to defeat LBJ, that shocked many Americans. McCarthy relied on college students and volunteers to get votes. Senator Robert Kennedy decided to run for President on March 16, 1968. The My Lai massacre existed when 500 Vietnamese civilians from infants to the elderly were murdered by ground troops (in Charlie Company) from America. It lasted for three hours until three American fliers intervene to carry the wounded to safety. The fliers positioned their helicopter between the troops and the fleeing Vietnamese people. By March 22, 1968, In Czechoslovakia Antonin Novotny resigned from the Czech presidency setting off alarm bells in Moscow. The next day leaders of five Warsaw Pact countries meet in Dresden, East Germany to discuss the crisis. By March 28, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lead a march in Memphis which turns violent. After King himself had been led from the scene one 16-year-old black teenage child was killed, 60 people are injured, and over 150 arrested. We know now that many government agent provocateurs initiated a lot of the violence. Dr. King was unfairly blamed by some (including by Robert Byrd), and Dr. King promised to back again in forming a nonviolent march in Memphis (in preparation for his future Poor People's Campaign march in Washington, D.C.). President Lyndon Johnson delivers his Address to the Nation Announcing Steps To Limit the War in Vietnam and Reporting His Decision Not To Seek Reelection. The speech announced the first in a series of limitations on US bombing, promising to halt these activities above the 20th parallel (on March 31, 1968).
The tragic end was coming. Many people wonder if Dr. King knew. Yet, "I've Been To the Mountaintop" was one of the many classic, prophetic speeches from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King was desperate to make the Memphis sanitation strike successful, because the rights of workers must be respected. Grown men and grown women deserve fair wages, dignity, respect, and a sense of community to establish their own life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness indeed. On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee. It was raining and stormy at that night. Dr. King hesitated on whether to go or not. Yet, Dr. King decided to go to the church to express his progressive views on politics, economics, black freedom, fighting racism, and overall human liberation. In the church, the excitement was building rapidly for Dr. King to speak. When Dr. King came on the stage, the crowd shouted in joy and anticipation for Dr. King's eloquent words to show. The speech touched on many themes. At first, he gave greetings and praised his best friend Ralph Abernathy. Then, he gave a panoramic view of the history of comparing the struggle of the Hebrews in Egypt to the struggle of black American workers in Memphis who just want economic justice. Dr. King wanted God to send him to the ages of Moses, the Greek philosophers' time (filled with Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides, and Aristophanes), the age of the Roman emperors and leaders, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and to the time of Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation. Then, he wanted God to allow him to live a few years in the 2nd half of the 20th century. Such comments are morbid, even him prophetically knowing that his time on Earth was short. Yet, Dr. King's speech came to elevate the cause of the sanitation workers, desiring to grow black owned institutions, and desiring freedom to spread in the world.
Dr. King opposed the court-imposed injunction restricting their rights of peaceful protestors. He said that people are rising up in Africa, America, etc. desiring to be free. He reminded the audience of how nonviolence resistance caused many positive conclusions in Montgomery, Selma, etc. Dr. King wanted boycotts against racist companies who refuse to treat black residents as equal citizens of America (along with building up a strong economic base in the black community). He used biblical imagery in the speech like the story of Jericho Road to make the point that when suffering people exist, we can't be bystanders. We have to work actively in changing society, so the poor and anyone suffering can have true justice in the world. He spoke about of his suffering like being stabbed by a deranged person and encouragement from a young child. Dr. King wanted America to defend the rights found in the documents of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. As he said, "...Somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I said, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around. We aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on..." At the end of the speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. predicted the future that he may not see the time of black people experiencing true freedom and justice, but he saw the Promised Land. He foreshadowed his death and he wasn't afraid to die. His final words in the speech are the following:
"...Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. 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; longevity has its place. 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. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So 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..."
The crowd cheered and Dr. King hugged people. Dr. King saw the crowd cheering and crying. Then, Dr. King cried. He gave it his all in showing his progressive message about boycotts, economic justice, and freedom for sanitation workers.
At the end of the Dr. Martin Luther King's life, he left the church in a high note after giving his Mountaintop speech. It ended at 10:30 pm. Later, Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy drove to Benjamin Hooks' house at 1860 South Parkway East for a late-night meal at 10:45 pm. By early Thursday morning on April 4th, 1968, Alfred Daniel King (or Dr. King's younger brother) came to the Lorraine Hotel with some associates (including Georgia Davis Powers and Lucretia Baldwin Ward. George Davis Powers was the Kentucky state Senator who worked with Dr. King before 1968 in desiring housing rights and equality for black people in the state of Kentucky. She babysit Muhammad Ali when he was a child) having driven there from Miami. They meet with other SCLC leaders for hours. By 4 am, Dr. King, Lee, and Abernathy return to the Lorraine Motel and visit A.D. for about an hour, when Dr. King goes to bed. By 8 am, Lawson, AFSCME national organizer Jesse Epps, and the Rev. Ralph Jackson, a vocal civil-rights leader and pastor of St. Andrews AME Church, meet at The Peabody, 149 Union, for a strategy breakfast. By 8 am, Judge Bailey Brown met in Circuit Court with Andrew Young and the attorneys (Burch, Lucas, Bailey, Caywood, Cody, and Newman) to hear their request about lifting the restraining order. They wanted restrictions if the April 8th march is allowed to come about. MPD director Frank Holloman said that he would rather see Dr. King lead a march than anybody else. By 9am, black and white ministers meet again at Mississippi Blvd. Christian Church at 971 Mississippi Blvd. They wanted to have their discussion from the day before. Rabbi Wax didn't want demonstrations and the black ministers wanted more demonstrations and protests. Mayor Loeb was in Brown's courtroom at 10 am. but says nothing. By 10:30 am, a large group of Invaders, led by Charles Cabbage, meets in Room 315 at the Lorraine Motel to argue that the SCLC needs to fund their Black Organizing Program if they expected help with the April 8th march. King attends the meeting briefly, tells them, “I don’t negotiate with brothers,” and walks out of the room. The Invaders leave the motel. By 12 noon, Dr. King and Abernathy share a catfish lunch in King's motel room. Judge Brown has a lunch break at the same time too. Chauncey Eskridge, King’s personal attorney and friend, arrives from Atlanta. Andrew Young, the SCLC’s executive vice president, talks after lunch, arguing that mass marches call attention to injustice in a nonviolent way. Brown concludes the meeting at 4 p.m.
The Memphis police and the FBI continued to have their surveillance of Dr. King and his associates at the Lorraine Motel. We don't know why two black firefighters — Norvell Wallace and Floyd Newsum — are transferred to other fire stations that day. The two police officers responsible for monitoring King are both black undercover “community relations” officers: detective Ed Redditt and patrolman Willie Richmond. By 12:50 pm, a woman called Fire Station #2 and tells Redditt that everyone knows he is an undercover cop, and “spying was an offense against his people.” This is not the first threat he has received during King’s stay in Memphis, so MPD officials remove him from his post and tell him to take his family into hiding. He is replaced with another black policeman at the station. Richmond remains at the fire station, watching activities at the Lorraine through slits in the paper covering the windows. By 1 pm, Dr. King and his brother A.D. call their mother in Atlanta, later hold an “impromptu SCLC meeting.” They and members of the local Community on the Move for Equality (COME) talk about putting some members of the Invaders on the SCLC staff. The Rev. Harold Middlebrook with COME believes, “Maybe exposure to Dr. King and his staff would give them the idea of being nonviolent.” By 3 pm, more than a dozen members of the U.S. Army’s 111th Military Intelligence Group also monitor King’s activities from various downtown locations. At one point, they watch the Lorraine Motel from the rooftop of Fire Station #2. Memphis businessman Ned Cook meet with Loeb at City Hall and tells him that “the responsible element of the Negro community thought the thing was getting out of hand.” According to Beifuss, “There was a brightening in the mayor’s office.” At 3pm, Bandleader Ben Branch with Chicago’s Operation Breadbasket (a community organization that encouraged support for black-owned businesses) gathers a small band in one of the rooms at the Lorraine Motel to rehearse for the mass meeting later that night at Mason Temple. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, pastor of Monumental Baptist Church, join in singing old hymns: “Yield Not to Temptation,” “I’ve Been ’Buked and I’ve Been Scorned,” and “I’m So Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always.”
By 4:30 pm, Andrew Young returns to the Lorraine Motel to give King an update on the situation in Judge Bailey Brown’s courtroom. King chastised him in a joking way for not telling them anything sooner: “Why don’t you call and let me know what’s going on? We’re sitting here all day long waiting to hear from you.” They eventually start laughing and even get into a pillow fight. “Occasionally, he would get into those kinds of hilarious moods,” says Young. By 5pm, Dr. King joked with Lorene Bailey, the wife of motel owner Walter Bailey, about having dinner that evening with the Kyles. “If he don’t have good food out there, like that catfish we had,” he tells her, “I’m going to come back and eat here.” At the same time, eighteen local business leaders meet at The Peabody to discuss ways to settle the strike. As with every other meeting held across the city that day, they don’t come to any conclusions. “It was a cold audience,” says Memphis Labor Council secretary Bill Ross, “and a last-ditch, desperate attempt.” By 5:30 pm, Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy dress for dinner. Because King’s skin is so sensitive, he “shaves” by using a homemade depilatory. He kids Kyles that his wife had better serve “real” soul food that evening. (“Not like at that preacher’s house. We went over there and had some ham. A ham bone.”) To his colleagues, he seems in a good mood. “This is like the old Movement days, isn’t it?” he asks Kyles, who slumps on the bed as the other two dress. “That first speech when I got here! When I got to the temple and saw all those people — you couldn’t have squeezed two more in if you tried. This really is the old Movement spirit.” Kyles remembers, “It was just preacher talk, like people talk baseball talk or barbershop talk.” He and Abernathy joke with King when he can’t button the tight collar on his shirt, so he pulls another one from his suitcase. By 5:45 pm, Solomon Jones waited in the Lorraine Motel courtyard with the white Cadillac loaned by R.S. Lewis and Sons Funeral Home. Ben Branch and Jesse Jackson are also in the courtyard, along with attorney Chauncey Eskridge and King aides Andrew Young, Hosea Williams, James Bevel, Bernard Lee, and James Orange. Other motel guests stand nearby, along with photographers Ernest Withers and Joseph Louw, and a reporter for The New York Times. At 5:50 pm, three police cars and a dozen officers return to Fire Station #2 after monitoring the daily march from Clayborn Temple to City Hall. Most of the men go inside to grab a cup of coffee and to take a break, while others mill about outside.
At 5:55 pm, Waiting for Abernathy, King steps out onto the balcony outside Room 306. Down in the parking lot, Jackson says to King, “Doc, this is Ben Branch. Ben used to live in Memphis. He plays in our band.” King leans over the railing to tell Branch he remembers him, but jokes that he can’t bring his whole band to the Kyles’ house, and comes back inside. Abernathy returns to his own room, next to King’s, to put on aftershave. At the fire station, a fireman, George Loenneke, asks policeman Richmond if he can look through the binoculars for a few minutes. He watches as King steps back onto the balcony outside Room 306 and talks to the people below. At 6 pm, King leans over the railing and tells Branch to “play ‘Precious Lord’ like you’ve never played it before.” Branch says, “Dr. King, you know I do that all the time.” King responds, “But tonight, especially for me. I want you to play it real pretty.” Branch says, “I will, Doc,” and tells him to put on an overcoat, since it might be chilly later. At 6:01 pm, Dr. King straightened up and begins to turn back towards his room to get a coat. He had been in Memphis 31 hours and 28 minutes. Then, at 6:01 pm, the murderer shot Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the world changed forever.
In terms of computer technology, Jesse Russell remains an icon. He is an American inventor. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee. He worked in the field of wireless communication for over 20 years. He has many patents and continues to invent and innovate in the new area of next generation broadband wireless networks, technologies, and services (called 4G). Russell was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to the field of wireless communication. He pioneered the field of digital cellular communication in the 1980's through the use o high power linear amplification and low bit rate voice encoding technologies and received a patent in 1992 for his work in the area of digital cellular base station. He is the Chairman and CEO of incNETWORKS, Inc, a New Jersey based Broadband Wireless Communications Company focused on 4th Generation (4G) BroadBand Wireless Communications Technologies, Networks, and Services. He was born into a large African American family with 8 brothers and sisters. He was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 1995 for technical contributions to and leadership in digital cellular communications technology. We always what he did for wireless communication technology indeed.
In terms of MMA culture, Conor McGregor is a disgrace. He is totally against the values and integrity of the sport of mixed martial arts. We know who he is, and we know that he has no respect for people or his girlfriend. He was born in Dublin, Ireland and was a former UFC featherweight and lightweight Champions. He has been arrested in Ireland for speeding. In April 5, 2018, he threw objects of the bus where MMA fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov was at. This happened at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City. McGregor and his entourage wanted to confront Nurgmomedov. McGregor ran near a moving bus and grab a metal equipment dolly and broke the bus's window. Michael Chiesa and Ray Borg were injured by the glass. McGregor pleaded no contest because his act was caught on tape. He was ordered to perform five days of community service and attend anger management classes. Back in March of 2019, McGregor was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a Dublin hotel in December 2018. He was accused of assaulting a woman again in October 2019. On March 11, 2019, McGregor was arrested outside the Fontainebleau Hotel in Mimi Beach, Florida after he attacked fan taking a picture with a cellphone. The incident was caught on CCTV. McGregor lunged to hit the man, grabbed his cellphone, and smashed it on the ground with his feet. A settlement out of court existed. If a Brother did what McGregor did, you already know the consequences. On August 16, 2019, McGregor was caught on tape punching an older man at The Marble Arch Pubin Dublin (it took place on April 5, 209). He was arrested on September 10, 2020, for being accused of sexual assault and indecent exposure in a bar at the French island of Corsica. French authorities dropped the investigation due to insufficient evidence. McGregor was accused of assaulting the musician Francesco Facchinetti (an Italian man) in nightclub in Rome on October 17, 2021. McGregor was accused of assaulting a 42-year-old woman abroad his yacht in Ibiza, Spain on July 22, 2022. The women's car was set ablaze. A brick was thrown through a window of a residence. McGregor punched the Miami Heat's mascot Burnie on June 10, 2023. By June 11, 2023, Conor McGregor has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a restroom at the Miami arena after Game Four of the NBA Finals. McGregor denies those allegations. We know about the racist stuff he said to Mayweather saying "dance for me boy." His actions are not about being confidence. His own deeds about him being reckless, abusive, and plainly narcissistic. So, Conor McGregor is no role model, I don't respect him at all, and he is a disgrace to the sport of MMA period.
The daughter of John Burwell Willaims (b. 1815) and Mary (b. 1824) was Mary L. Williams. Mary L. Williams's daughter was Ida Williams Artis (1883-1963). Ida Artis's father was Eddie Drew Kello (b. 1851). Ida Artis married Ivy Artis (b. 1883), and their children were Willie Artis (b. 1902), James Robert Artis (1905-1968), Pearl Artis (b. 1908), George Artis (1912-1939), Booker T. Washington Artis Sr. (1915-1980), Thomas Artis (1917-1990), and Lucy Mae Bainty Artis (1919-2006). Booker T. Washington Artis Sr. married Evelyn Ricks on December 30, 1937, in Sedley, Virginia. Their children are Booker T. Washington Artis Jr. (1938-1958) and Melvin Lee Artis Sr. (b. 1940). One daughter of Ivy Artis and Ida Williams Artis was Lucy Mae Bainty Artis (1919-2006). She married Ervin Hicks (1918-2002) on June 3, 1939, at Sedley, Virginia. The marriage documents show Lucy Artis's parents as Ivory Artis (her father) and Ida Williams (her mother). Their children are Lloyd Hicks (b. 1938), Grace Mae Hicks Ricks (b. 1939), Annie B. Hicks (b. 1948), and Robert Lee Hicks (1952-1988).
I'm an older Millennial (born in 1983), so I always have a fondness of the 1990's. The 1990's saw the end of the Cold War and the expansion and technological and musical development. It was a time when historic shows and movies existed (like Roc, Martin, Moesha, Living Single, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, etc), and the discussion of race plus other social issues were more out in public. The rock and pop music of the 1990's saw a golden age of groups relying on the past and present to establish hits. The pop music especially saw a golden age. Many musical trends saw soul, funk, and jazz being fused to form new jack swing, neo-soul, hip hop soul, and g-funk. Rock music saw peak level alternative music along with punk rock, ska punk, and nu metal. Artists like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, R.E.M., Red Hot Chili Peppers, No Doubt, Goo Goo Dolls, Stone Temple Pilots, 4 Non Blondes, Beck, Sublime, Creed, and other rock groups shown diverse sounds with the same goal of promoting musical expression in being personal. R&B music saw another Golden Age of some of the best music in human history from the 1990's. I can go down the list. Artists like Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Babyface, Zhane, Brownstone, TLC, Soul 2 Soul, Boyz 2 Men, Blackstreet, Aaliyah, Lauryn Hill, 702, Mariah Carey, and other R&B icons shown out to display musical excellence. Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Alanis Morissette, Tori Amos, Dionne Farris, Dionne Farris, Meshell Ndegeocello, Jewel, Natalie Merchant, Gabrielle, and Sheryl Crow saw the growth of women artists promoting their styles. Hip hop in the 1990's saw an expansion of power with corporations taking a more vested interest in the artform. Artists like Tupac Shakur, Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Salt n Pepa, Master P, the Hot Boyz, The Ghetto Boys, Canibus, LL Cool J, Ice T, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Coolio, The Fugees, Nas, the Notorious B.I.G., Lil Kim, and other hip hop musicians were highly influential during the 1990's. The 1990's was a decade when individuality in music was celebrated in a passionate fashion, and the experience of human life (filled with joy, imperfections, pain, and triumphs) was eloquently displayed in a myriad of musical genres as well (including gospel music with Kurt Franklin, Yolanda Adams, BeBe and CeCe Winans, the Mississippi Mass Choir, etc.). There was the further popularity of electronic music and house plus techno music. Music from Corona (in the Rhythm of the Night), Deborah Cox (in Sentimental), and Foo Fighters (Flying) always has a resonance with people. The third wave ska and wing revival was known along with the merging of pop with country (shown by artists like Garth Brooks and Shania Twain). The internet helped to expand music during the 1990's along with digital technology. By the end of the 1990's, we saw the teenage pop group expand with artists like the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, 98 Degrees, The Spice Girls, Hanson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, etc. My childhood existed during the 1990's as I was 7 in 1990 and 16 in 1999. To me, the 1990's was a special decade with some of the most impactful, greatest music of all time.
The legacy of heroes remains permanent in our consciousness. A lot of people, even in 2023, didn't know that black women were in the military during World War II fighting against fascism. Decades ago, World War II existed, but its impact on our society is paramount from new technological to the end of overt colonialism in many parts of the world (from Africa to Asia). The late Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Early lived from December 5, 1918 to January 13, 2002. She was an American United States Army officer. She made history in enumerable ways. She was the first African American woman to be an officer in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (later WACs) and the commanding officer of the first battalion of African American women to serve overseas during World War II. Adams was the highest ranking African American woman in the army by the completion of the war. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion helped to deliver mail throughout the U.S. Armed Forces in the midst of enemy lines. Their motto was "no Mail, Low Morale." There is a monument honoring the military group of women at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on November 30, 2018. She served from 1942 to 1946 during her life. She fought Jim Crow apartheid and gave opportunities for future women military leaders. Heroes like Isabella Peterson Evans, Millie Dunn Veasey, Mildred Gates Hooper, Romay Johnson Davi, and other human beings shown courage and heroism. Therefore, we honor Lt. Colonel Charity Adams Early as a champion for our freedom and a beacon of light for freedom in general.
By Timothy
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