Family members of Martin Luther King Jr. held a somber wreath-laying ceremony at the King Center Freedom Plaza to mark the 56th anniversary of the civil rights movement leader’s assassination.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed on April 4, 1968, while standing on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. The murder sparked riots in over 100 cities across the country.
Today, Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, are buried at a crypt in the center of the Freedom Plaza in Atlanta. King’s family members laid a floral wreath on the graves before continuing with the short ceremony for a small crowd.
Martin Luther King III, his wife Andrea Waters King and their daughter Yolanda Renee King visited the site of King Jr.’s death in Memphis, Tennessee, to commemorate the activist’s legacy.
Rev. Bernice King, MLK’s daughter, led the ceremony, while King Jr.s’ nephew Dr. Derek King led the audience in prayer and niece Alveda King performed the popular song “This Little Light of Mine.”
Bernice King said the past year has been challenging for the extended family, given the recent death of Naomi King, Alfred Daniel King’s wife at age 92 on March 7, Martin Luther King Jr.’s son Dexter Scott King at age 62 in January and King Jr.’s sister Dr. Christine King Farris at age 95 in July 2023.
“As you know, over a nine-month period, we lost the last members of the generation that’s older than me, so this has been a very trying and difficult season for us,” Bernice King said.
She reminded the crowd that King was “taken from us” before his time, but his legacy lives on.
“We know the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and his Coretta Scott King, are so critical to the times that we’re living in very turbulent times, difficult, challenging times,” Bernice King said. “But Dr. King gave us a way. He gave us a philosophy and a methodology to transform this world.”
She was referring to King’s six principles for nonviolence: Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people; nonviolence seeks to win friendships and understanding; nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice or evil, not people; nonviolence holds that unearned, voluntary suffering for a just cause can educate and transform people and societies; nonviolence chooses love instead of hate; and nonviolence believes that the universe is on the side of justice.
Bernice King said at the King Center, the family believes studying nonviolence and practicing it will “transform the way society looks” and create a peaceful society, free of ills like gun violence and war as mentioned by Rev. Derek King.
April McPherson Kelly, a Georgia native, said she came to the ceremony with her son because King “fought for a legacy; he stood for demanding that you can be here right now.”
Kelly grew up with A.D King’s children as a member of True Love Baptist Church. At those family gatherings with the Kings full of wine and politics she learned about the work and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
“He contributed so much to everyone being fair and having the same liberties and civil liberties here in America,” Kelly said. “He would make the difference by at least having a voice for those who could not speak.”
Alveda King’s son Jared Ellis said after the ceremony that he and the other King family members are “committed to carrying that legacy forward.”
“The soul of a nation is constructed in the hearts of its people,” Ellis said.
Loved the story. Well done.