DR. KING, THEN, NOW AND FOREVER(Billy Sample) DR. KING, THEN, NOW AND FOREVER

April 4th, 1968, I was setting in front of the TV in our home in Almyra Arkansas. Not really paying attention because I was doing a little last-minute studying for a big event the next day which coincidently was also my 15th birthday. I don’t remember the program we were watching but I will never forget the network suddenly interrupting the show to announce a tragedy that would change and shock the country.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis Tennessee while standing on the balcony of his hotel room. I remember my Father gasping and saying, “This is going to change everything”. I also remember thinking about the fact that I was setting in almost the exact spot when 5 years earlier the interruption of a tv program was necessary to announce the assassination of President Kennedy.

There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Nation and even the world would never be the same going forward from this day. Before we get into the day after and beyond let me take you back a year.

Almyra was and still is a small town in Eastern Arkansas with a population of around 240. A town that small had a grade school but understandable could not really support Junior high or a high school. Once a child finished the 6th grade, He or She would take a bus to the city of Dewitt to attend the High School of the same name. This bus ride was about 20 miles southeast and meandered down the mostly gravel roads through the Rice and Soybean fields of this fertile area called the Grand Prairie.

At that time Dewitt High School was a three-story building that was on the verge of being declared condemned. A new state of the art school was in the early stages of being built on the out skirts of town but for now, the old 3 story building was our bastion of education.

One morning as we are cruising down the gravel road towards Dewitt in the big yellow school bus. The driver suddenly slows down and then comes to a complete stop. He turns off the motor and stands asking for attention. He then stated something like this.

“About a mile up the road here we’re going to stop and pick up some colored kids. I don’t like it any more than you do but we don’t have a choice. They closed the colored school and are sending all of them to Dewitt. Just behave and we’ll get this done.”

He asked the kids sitting in the front seats to move so that our new riders would not have to travel through the bus. We then proceeded down the road and there they were. The driver stopped the bus and opened the doors and the kids boarded. There were 3 of them, a Girl looking like probably 14 or 15, a younger girl of maybe 13, and a young boy looking like maybe 12. The driver didn’t speak a word to them he only nodded his head. The three new kids took the front seat and we continued down the road in total silence.

Once we arrived at the school the scene was a little alarming. In front of the building was a courtyard type area about 50 paces deep and 100 wide divided by a sidewalk leading from the steps out to the road. All the white kids were standing on one side and all the newly arrived black kids were on the other side. Nothing was being said, everyone was just staring at the other side. Apparently, this was news to all the white kids there just as it was to us when we stopped to pick up the bus riders.

I would say this standoff lasted for maybe 10 minutes after we arrived, how long it had been going on before we got there, I wasn’t sure. What ever the duration it was deemed by the Principle to be too long. He, the Assistant Football Coach and a couple of the Male teachers exited through the front doors and marched down the sidewalk stopping about halfway. The Principle was carrying a bull horn, he lifted it in front of his face, turned it on and announced.

“People, we are not doing this. The powers that be have put us in the situation and we are going to deal with it and make it work. There is no discussion about this and now you students who have been here before go to your class right now. You new students follow the Coach here and he’ll take you to the study hall and we will get everyone assigned to their class. Any questions, I didn’t think so. Proceed NOW”!

Welcome to the first day of the rest of my life and every other kid in that courtyard. Now remember this was Arkansas where nearly 10 years earlier in Little Rock 6 black children had to have the National Guard escort them into Hall High School. Much less drama now.

Returning to April 4, 1968. After listening to the unbelievable news coming out of Memphis, I do remember my Dad saying he would not want to be in that city tonight or anytime soon. I also recall having a lot of trouble sleeping that night. The news was overwhelming and that coupled with the haunting memories of similarity to the John Kennedy tragedy had made this seem uncomfortably familiar.

The next morning my Dad drove me to Dewitt due to an early departure for the special event I mentioned earlier. I was on one of the FFA (Future Farmers of America) competition teams. My specialty was poultry judging. On the way I was so troubled about the news that I wondered if they might cancel the contest. The competition was to take place at a college located at Monticello Arkansas about an hour or so drive from Dewitt.

When we arrived and Dad let me out of the car, I joined my fellow FFA crew. Let’s just say most of them didn’t share my mental state. I was shocked and a little taken back by the lack of empathy for what had taken place the night before. I can’t recall if there was any of the Black Students in FFA, if there was, they weren’t on any of the judging teams and maybe that was the excuse for the attitude of many of the guys. And by that, I mean many of them totally dismissed it and as much as I hate to say it, some were even in a celebratory state of mind.

We boarded the bus and set off for Monticello. Along the way we passed a small congregation of Black kids walking along the road in one of the small towns we passed through and to my dismay one of our guys lowered the window and started yelling and laughing at the kids! Like I said folks, this was the deep south in the 1960’s.

Enough of the trip down memory lane. In the years and decades since, people of this Country have come to realize the importance of the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His 1963 ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in Washington is regarded as one of the most dynamic messages in history, and rightfully so.

He wasn’t asking for anything more than equal treatment under the law, equal employment and equal opportunity for the next generation, and the constitutional right to vote! He knew that he might not get there with the people he was addressing but he knew the trip had to be made. He was also a non-violent messenger as in this lesser-known quote when questioned about the Vietnam War.

“Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest.”

Even though it is symbolic, practically every city in America has a boulevard, street or school named after the man. Those of us in my age range know that there was a lot of potholes to navigate around on this trip of over 5 decades since he left. I’m sure there are still some out there just waiting to run us off the road. Another quote of his should fit really well in the intense environment we find ourselves in today.

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Don’t get me wrong on this, I am totally aware that I have not sacrificed anything on this trip. I know that I am a recipient of ‘white privilege’ and I can only hope that history and God will approve of my attempts to not take advantage of that privilege.

Oh, and if I ever get to meet Dr. King up there, I will apologize for not walking to the front of that school bus and welcoming those three young souls who had to be terrified that day in the middle of the gravel road in Eastern Arkansas.

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