The Event, Key Dates, and Description Key Individuals Involved
Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of the civil rights movement in the United States. He led the fight for civil rights by example, speaking to the public and organizing massive peaceful protests. Despite the arrest and imprisonment of King Jr.’s direct killer, James Earl Ray, the potential sponsors of the murder have never been identified. It is logical to assume that these were people who had power and who were against the changes that the victory of the civil rights movement promised.
Public Opinion of the Event
Of the 10% of Minnesota survey participants who felt guilty or responsible, 68% said that whites or they themselves did not do enough to address racial issues and improve conditions for the Negroes (“Assassination Nation,” 2018). Another 27% believed that all whites were responsible for the situation because of the prejudice and acts of racial discrimination prevailing in society. Survey participants who did not consider themselves involved, guilty or responsible for King’s death stated that “no involvement with assassination or with Negro problem is general” (28%), “I am not prejudiced against Negroes, have supported civil rights” (23 %), and “King’s (Negroes’) own fault was just stirring up trouble” (11%) (“Assassination Nation,” 2018, par. 5).
Effects of the Event
The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. dealt a blow to the ideology of nonviolence and love that underpinned King’s philosophy and which he sought to make basic ideas for the civil rights movement. Congress for Mass Equality Director Floyd McKissick made the famous speech on the night after King’s assassination that “racial equality is a dead philosophy because it was killed by white racists” (Love, 2021, par. 7). Some civil rights advocates such as Stokely Carmichael suggested that the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., who encouraged the movement for nonviolent marches and tried to teach the people to show love and compassion, made a big mistake. According to Carmichael, in this way, the killers declared war on the members of the movement, among whom there were no others like Martin Luther King Jr.
References
Assassination Nation: Public Responses to King and Kennedy in 1968. (2018). Web.
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2021). Web.
Love, D. (2021). What impact did King’s assassination have on the Black community? Web.