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| Martin Luther King: events to be held across US to remember leader – live updates | Martin Luther King: events to be held across US to remember leader – live updates |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, a year-long reporting project focused on economic justice in Memphis, reported yesterday that fifty years after the sanitation workers’ strike and the assassination of King, white workers are still winning the job’s race. | |
| A federal survey for 2015 shows that white workers hold a sizable majority of the higher-status and better-paying jobs among large, private employers in the Memphis metro area, though they represent only 43 percent of the overall workforce, according to the report. | |
| “The distribution of workers by occupation helps explain the income inequality that harms black workers in Memphis and across the nation,” David Ciscel, a professor emeritus of economics at the University of Memphis, told MLK50 in an email. | |
| “It is particularly difficult to square the progress African-Americans have made in education with the issues they still face with income and wealth inequality,” he said. | |
| Click to read the full story. | |
| The Guardian’s Washington DC bureau chief, David Smith, has sent his first dispatch from the commemorative events in the US capital. | |
| In Washington a steady flow of people are visiting the Martin Luther King memorial, which stands 30 feet tall and is sculpted from 159 granite blocks, surrounded by some of his most enduring quotations. The anniversary coincides with the city’s brief cherry blossom season, adding an exquisite flurry of pink on a serene spring morning. | |
| Flowers and a signed note have been left at the base of the statue, which looks across the waters of the tidal basin to the memorial to Thomas Jefferson, the slave-owning third president. Addressed to Dr King, the handwritten note says: “Your message of non-violence still resonates with may and your message of Human Rights for all people is still being heard today. Rest in Peace!” | |
| Note left at King memorial. pic.twitter.com/5hvkOC5Bcr | |
| Ron Meredith, a 38-year-old African American, was listening to King’s “mountaintop” speech on the radio on Wednesday morning and decided a visit to the memorial was “the least I could do”. He explained: “I feel an immense amount of pride and love for the man. It makes me cry when I think what they took from us. His sacrifice was Christ-like.” | |
| If King were alive today, added Meredith, a financial regulator who lives Washington, “he’d be kneeling with Kaepernick” – a reference to the football player who started the take-a-knee protests against racial injustice. | |
| April Keech, a chaplain and associate priest, welled up with tears as she recalled learning of King’s assassination when she was a child. “I was in ninth grade in high school and in the morning black friends wore black arm bands and were not talking and I suddenly realised how awful it was.” | |
| Keech, 66, who now lives in London, added: “It was a time that rocked this country and the whole myth of American morality. What I like about Martin Luther King is that he loved this country and he had integrity, which I think has been lost in the American political scene. The current policies on immigration are an insult to King and his memory. | |
| “If he were alive today, he would be worried by current policies but he would still continue to fight. Things have changed in law but it will take another generation. I’m glad young people have stood up and hope they will continue to stand up to an older generation clinging to white minority rule.” | |
| The Guardian’s Jamiles Lartey is at the I AM march and rally in Memphis, which kicked off at 8am local time and will continue into the afternoon. | The Guardian’s Jamiles Lartey is at the I AM march and rally in Memphis, which kicked off at 8am local time and will continue into the afternoon. |
| The event commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike, a union-driven effort to improve conditions for black sanitation workers. Local ministers and students joined the nonviolent demonstration in solidarity with the workers in 1968. King traveled to Memphis to support the campaign in March, then again in April, when he was killed. | The event commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike, a union-driven effort to improve conditions for black sanitation workers. Local ministers and students joined the nonviolent demonstration in solidarity with the workers in 1968. King traveled to Memphis to support the campaign in March, then again in April, when he was killed. |
| Four days after King’s death, his widow Coretta Scott King and other civil rights and union leaders marched through Memphis in honor of King and to demand the sanitation department meet the strikers’ demands. Less than two weeks later, a deal was struck and the strike was brought to an end. | Four days after King’s death, his widow Coretta Scott King and other civil rights and union leaders marched through Memphis in honor of King and to demand the sanitation department meet the strikers’ demands. Less than two weeks later, a deal was struck and the strike was brought to an end. |
| The crowd here at the I AM March kickoff rally is mostly union folks. UNITE HERE which represents represents workers in airports, hotels and casinos has a huge presence, along with United Auto workers and teamsters. pic.twitter.com/08XRh3xIqQ | The crowd here at the I AM March kickoff rally is mostly union folks. UNITE HERE which represents represents workers in airports, hotels and casinos has a huge presence, along with United Auto workers and teamsters. pic.twitter.com/08XRh3xIqQ |
| The White House on Tuesday issued a proclamation to mark the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination. | The White House on Tuesday issued a proclamation to mark the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination. |
| Though he was taken from this earth unjustly, he left us with his legacy of justice and peace. In remembrance of his profound and inspirational virtues, we look to do as Dr King did while this world was privileged enough to still have him. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters lest we perish together as fools. We must embrace the sanctity of life and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. As a united people, we must see Dr King’s life mission through and denounce racism, inhumanity, and all those things that seek to divide us. | Though he was taken from this earth unjustly, he left us with his legacy of justice and peace. In remembrance of his profound and inspirational virtues, we look to do as Dr King did while this world was privileged enough to still have him. We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters lest we perish together as fools. We must embrace the sanctity of life and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. As a united people, we must see Dr King’s life mission through and denounce racism, inhumanity, and all those things that seek to divide us. |
| To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s death, the Guardian asked nine students from his former school in Atlanta - Booker T Washington high school - to recite the I Have A Dream speech. | To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr’s death, the Guardian asked nine students from his former school in Atlanta - Booker T Washington high school - to recite the I Have A Dream speech. |
| In the lead-up to today’s events, demonstrators were arrested during a protest against immigration detention in Memphis. | In the lead-up to today’s events, demonstrators were arrested during a protest against immigration detention in Memphis. |
| The protest was part of rolling demonstrations on Tuesday that sought to use the interest in Memphis ahead of the MLK anniversary to bring attention to social and criminal justice issues citizens still face. | The protest was part of rolling demonstrations on Tuesday that sought to use the interest in Memphis ahead of the MLK anniversary to bring attention to social and criminal justice issues citizens still face. |
| The Guardian’s Jamiles Lartey was on the scene in Memphis yesterday: | The Guardian’s Jamiles Lartey was on the scene in Memphis yesterday: |
| All activists who were arrested for peacefully protesting yesterday, have court today at 9am. The irony of having court on #MLK50 for living his legacy. Don’t be silent about it. Show up at 201 at 9! Remember 300 protesters were arrested during MLK’s last March in 1968. | All activists who were arrested for peacefully protesting yesterday, have court today at 9am. The irony of having court on #MLK50 for living his legacy. Don’t be silent about it. Show up at 201 at 9! Remember 300 protesters were arrested during MLK’s last March in 1968. |
| Bernice King had just turned five years old when her father was assassinated. The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington spoke to King about the state of activism and inequality in the US and what her family faced in the aftermath of her father’s death. | Bernice King had just turned five years old when her father was assassinated. The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington spoke to King about the state of activism and inequality in the US and what her family faced in the aftermath of her father’s death. |
| She recalls very little of that day, 4 April 1968. It was a week after her fifth birthday, and when the TV networks began to carry news that her father had been shot in Memphis she was drifting off to sleep. | She recalls very little of that day, 4 April 1968. It was a week after her fifth birthday, and when the TV networks began to carry news that her father had been shot in Memphis she was drifting off to sleep. |
| She has only a pointillist picture of what happened next, the days and weeks of noise and hurt, disjointedly composed out of tiny dots of memory. It was Dexter who recalled the babysitter falling backwards and exclaiming “Oh my God!” when, they surmised later, she was informed that the bullet that pierced their father’s neck as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine motel had taken his life. | She has only a pointillist picture of what happened next, the days and weeks of noise and hurt, disjointedly composed out of tiny dots of memory. It was Dexter who recalled the babysitter falling backwards and exclaiming “Oh my God!” when, they surmised later, she was informed that the bullet that pierced their father’s neck as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine motel had taken his life. |
| Confusion. That was Bernice’s main recollection. Not the confusion of the adults that in turn morphed into anger that set rioting ablaze across the nation. But the confusion of a child for whom none of this made any sense. | Confusion. That was Bernice’s main recollection. Not the confusion of the adults that in turn morphed into anger that set rioting ablaze across the nation. But the confusion of a child for whom none of this made any sense. |
| As the family was boarding the plane that would take them to Memphis, to her father’s body lying in the casket, Coretta told Bernice that he was dead and that he wouldn’t be able to speak to her any more as his “spirit has gone on to live with God”. The child heard a hissing noise at the back of the plane which she knows now must have been the plane’s engines, but back then it sounded to her just like daddy. | As the family was boarding the plane that would take them to Memphis, to her father’s body lying in the casket, Coretta told Bernice that he was dead and that he wouldn’t be able to speak to her any more as his “spirit has gone on to live with God”. The child heard a hissing noise at the back of the plane which she knows now must have been the plane’s engines, but back then it sounded to her just like daddy. |
| “I said, ‘Well, he’s breathing, I hear him breathing in the back’. And she said, ‘No’.” | “I said, ‘Well, he’s breathing, I hear him breathing in the back’. And she said, ‘No’.” |
| Good morning. | Good morning. |
| On this day in 1968, the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. | On this day in 1968, the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. |
| To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, commemorative events will be held across the US to remember the inspiring activist leader’s life and to push King’s message of equality forward. | To mark the 50th anniversary of his death, commemorative events will be held across the US to remember the inspiring activist leader’s life and to push King’s message of equality forward. |
| Guardian journalists will be reporting live from these events, including at an all-day celebration at the National Civil Rights Museum, which was built within the Lorraine Motel, where King died at 6.01pm CT on 4 April 1968. | Guardian journalists will be reporting live from these events, including at an all-day celebration at the National Civil Rights Museum, which was built within the Lorraine Motel, where King died at 6.01pm CT on 4 April 1968. |
| We’ll be collecting their dispatches here on this live blog, where we’ll also be sharing images, reports and commentary from commemorative events and demonstrations all over the world. | We’ll be collecting their dispatches here on this live blog, where we’ll also be sharing images, reports and commentary from commemorative events and demonstrations all over the world. |