Pittsburghaes_081Recently during a speech trip to Memphis, Tennessee to speak before the National Council of Black Mayors I took a required detour to the Lorraine Motel, the location of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s death on April 4th, 1968. A great man. A tragic end. An emotional journey.

I still cannot quite put into words what it felt like being there at the Lorraine, site of the assassination of one of the world’s greatest men. Made even more reflective, I made the trip in part to be with my hero Ambassador Andrew Young, senior aide to the late Dr. King and on the balcony on the late afternoon of Dr. King’s death. Pittsburghaes_086 Ambassador Young was not with me when I visited the Lorraine on this day, but all the better frankly because I simply do not know how I would have processed all of the emotions. It is still difficult for Ambassador Young to be in Memphis, yet alone this site.

Every American need to make this pilgrimage to understand what happened on that sad day in April, 1968, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrew Young and others stood up for the rights of striking garbage workers and the issues of the poor in America (The Poor People’s Campaign).

Onward, with HOPE

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