By dvdmike (65.208.234.61) on Friday, April 04, 2003 - 08:49 am:

Weird thing about assassinations, you always remember where you were. I heard it on the news that night and I remember the atmosphere, particularly here in Chicago. There were riots and acts of violence, though it wasn't quite as bad here as it was in places like Newark and Detroit. I remember sitting in my seventh-grade classroom at Beulah Shoesmith School in Hyde Park and one of my classmates, Darian, storming in very angrily and vowing to "get somebody". I also remember Mayor Richard J. Daley's orders to "shoot to kill" in instructing the National Guard in how to deal with rioters. The West Side got hit the heaviest as far as riot damage. I'm sure many of you who remember the time have your own memories to share.

By Eli (151.197.115.54) on Friday, April 04, 2003 - 10:27 am:

I was living in Wynnefield, and it was just before I met my future wife, Gigi.
My mom, grandma and I were living in a smallish flat and I had a visitor from upstate New. York.

It was during the time that I was th Vibrations guitarist/m.d.
Almost overnight the tension grew .
I rember being in DC withthe guys and we went into a "gheto" chicken joint with me in tow.
Say it loud....was on the juke box and all eyes were on me..I left like white lightning.
The riots in Philly and just about all of urban U.S. and here I was "white" guy touring the chittlin circuit in the thick of it all.
My old friend B.J. Thomas called and he said that h is brother Jerry was one of the men "guarding: American Sound in Memphis and the scene at Stax couldnt get any worse and Steve and Duck needed armed guards to escort them into the studio!!

In Philly it was Columbia ave/Cecil B. Moore Blvd., that went up in flames.
My mom needed a new fridge and we coulda used a new telly!!! But, I opted not to go there.

Power to the people...right on!!!!

By BCNYC (64.12.97.7) on Friday, April 04, 2003 - 11:00 am:

What a sad day...especially in today's world, when anyone daring to espouse Dr King's philosophy is attacked as treasonous. The clock is turning back so fast, it's just unbelievable. And to think that it's the minority troops who signed up as a way out of poverty that are now being exploited politically to distract us all from the re-segregation of our educational system and the enrichment of the family businesses of our un-elected leaders, just to name a couple. Sad.

By mhc (172.129.91.120) on Friday, April 04, 2003 - 11:34 am:

By far, the most heroic and righteous thing that I've witnessed in my lifetime is the Civil Rights Movement. MLK Jr. was brave and brilliant; what a hideous thing it was for him to be taken out..

By STUBASS (64.12.97.7) on Friday, April 04, 2003 - 12:01 pm:

TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH MARSHALL ON THIS ONE!!!...ONE MUST WONDER WHAT DIFFERENCES WOULD HAVE OCCURED IN OUR SOCIETY HAD DR. KING STILL BEEN WITH US TODAY...ALTHOUGH HIS UNTIMELY ASSASSINATION DID WAKE UP MANY AMERICANS WHO DID NOT REALIZE... OR WANT TO REALIZE...THE STRUGGLES OF MANY OF OUR CITIZENS WHO HAD BEEN LEFT BEHIND!!!...AS I RECALL...THE CIVIL DISTURBANCES WHICH DID OCCUR WERE SOMEWHAT MUTED COMPARED TO WHAT HAD TRANSPIRED IN THE PREVIOUS YEARS...ONE REASON...BLACK LEADERS LIKE ROY ABERNATHY AND OTHERS URGING RESTRAINT AT A TIME OF NATIONAL CRISIS...AND TWO...THE DETROIT DISTURBANCES OF 67 WERE STILL FRESH IN OUR CITY'S COLLECTIVE MEMORIES...AND THE CITY JUST WASN'T PREPARED TO GO THROUGH ALL THAT AGAIN!!!...THE POSITIVE TO COME FROM THIS...WAS THAT DR. KING'S LEGACY GREW MUCH GREATER IN DEATH...THAN IT EVER COULD HAVE DURING HIS LIFETIME...DESPITE THE EVIL INTENTIONS OF J EDGAR HOOVER AND OTHERS WHO WISHED OUR SOCIETY TO SPUTTER AND STALL IN THE AREA OF PROGRESS FOR ALL IT'S CITIZENS!!!...STU

By Vickie (64.12.97.7) on Friday, April 04, 2003 - 12:09 pm:

so many greats have died in April....
Marvin, Edwin, Martin....
it's a sad month...

By TonyRussi (68.210.2.104) on Friday, April 04, 2003 - 02:07 pm:

I was in my high school history class when the news of Dr. Kings' assassination was announced, even those students with a kinda red-neck attitude were quiet and respectful when our teacher asked for a minute of silent prayer.The bus ride home was quieter, it was an eerie feeling in the air.Most people in the South, Black & White were truly saddened and felt compassion towards his family who I feel are wonderful people.

By medusa9e (66.73.10.33) on Saturday, April 05, 2003 - 10:47 pm:

Oh Wow!
I remember I was N the kitchen, my brother was N his room doing his homework and all of a sudden my Dad stomped and i never 4got what he yelled:
"Oh my God, they killed Martin Luther King, Oh My God". At that time, i was very young and i thought it was the end of the world 4 us...i started crying, couldn't believe a human being would do that 2 him. He was such a nice man, just wantted 2 B treated right, same as Malcom X.
They had the same destinations, but were coming from different avenues. We should never 4get either of them....