Do You Remember.......

[Jake3501]

Obviously, a lot of folks on this forum had not been born....Two assassinations impacted the United State in the 60's more than anytime since Lincoln.... Nearly everyone who was 5 years old or older remembers where they were when they heard John F. Kennedy was killed, but very few folks remember where they were when they heard M L K was killed. I'm one of those few folks and here is why.
April 4th, 1968 I was nearly 20, I went with a barber friend of mine to take a new shine person at the barber shop home after closing. He was a black kid who had just came home from Nam, wanted my buddy to meet his mother and sister. We were 5 steps out of my barber buddies '66 mustang when we heard someone yell out, "What's you doing with Whitey, didn't you done hear that those honkey's done Killed Big Daddy, Martin Luthor King?" We had no 1911, and barely made it back to the mustang as 5 big black men came towards us. They beat up the shine boy later for being with us. I remember where I was when I heard Kennedy was shot, but I'm one of few Whiteys that remember exactly where they were when Big Daddy Martin Luthor King was killed. That was the wrong place at the wrong time. That place was on the corner of what is now 23rd and Martin Luthor King Blvd. A very true story.

[BigSkiff]

I saw it on the 6:00 news at supper. I can remember thinking to myself that this was not a good thing and that we were very likely to see a lot of trouble from this. The whole world seemed to be in turmoil back then and I was very sure that the killing of Rev. King was not going to make it any better.

[BigSkiff]

Geez Jake, Just reading this and thinking about that whole era makes my stomach queasy! (And these days that's a lot of Quease!)

[Robby]

US Navy, San Diego Calif. Member the crew of the USS Constellation. We were at sea, and were told to only go ashore if we had family (my wife and first son were sitting in a mobile home park), so I went off and she picked me up as normal.

There were no problems in our area, but I remember quite well.

[Jake3501]

Geez Jake, Just reading this and thinking about that whole era makes my stomach queasy! (And these days that's a lot of Quease!)

We were younger then, about 41 years, we didn't worry about too much other than Viet Nam

[Iashoot]

I remember it but it's kinda blended with Robert Kenedy and the Sir han Sir han shootings ,all 3 I saw on TV and remember it and where we lived at the time, I was only 7 or 8 , I can tell you where I was when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.

[Smokewagon]

I don't remember, but it seems there was a curfew and some threats of civil unrest or maybe some minor unrest.

[Jake3501]

I don't remember, but it seems there was a curfew and some threats of civil unrest or maybe some minor unrest.

Lubbock didn't have any problems, but you sure didn't hang out around 23rd and Quirt (MLK Blvd) for a while.
Other cities around the country did have some Riots, but not as many as I expected. The riots in LA in Watts had just been a couple of years earlier, and it does seem like there were problems in Detroit and Chicago.

[dugger]

10th grade High School. was closed for about 1 wk cause of rioting. Was in Peoria Illinois at the time.

[mojo]

Was born (just) but being English and talking with Mum and Dad years later not a lot was said over in blighty.