MEMPHIS — After their four-hour meeting concluded on the afternoon of April 4, 1968, Jesse Epps extended a dinner invitation to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who had arrived in Memphis with other civil rights leaders to rally on behalf of the city’s striking Black sanitation workers.
King politely declined the invitation. He had already agreed to dine at the home of Samuel “Billy” Kyles, a local Memphis preacher, who arrived at the Lorraine Hotel shortly before six that evening to pick him up.
“I got into my car and we drove away, and shortly thereafter, we learned that he had been shot and killed right on the balcony of the hotel,” says Epps, who in 1968, was a labor leader with the American Federation of State, County, Municipal County Employees (AFSCME) and had been sent to Memphis to help settle the 64-day strike. “They killed the dreamer, but they could not kill the dream.”
Forty years later, Epps is back in town this week to commemorate King’s death. He joins thousands of others, including the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, who are hosting numerous festivities across the city that train a spotlight on King’s life and legacy.
Even though time has passed, a cloud of sadness still hovers over this city as Americans reflect on a life that was cut short much too soon.
At 71, Epps, who is currently the founder and president of the National Union of American Families, isn’t as pessimistic as some others. Call him idealistic if you want, but he’s been focused over the last decade on training a new generation of student activists who will create a movement that utilizes some of the same tactics and strategies that the civil rights leaders employed in the 1960s.
“The issues today are clear,” says Epps, who convinced King to travel to Memphis in 1968, much to the dismay of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). “We have to find a way to empower and provide equal economic, educational and social opportunities to every American family.”
