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Fifty-Two Years After His Assassination, the King Center Offers Emotional Support During Pandemic

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This weekend marks 52 years since an assassin’s bullet stole the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as he stood on the balcony of The Lorraine Motel in Memphis. He was in Memphis to add his voice to the chorus of Black sanitation workers pushing for better wages and working conditions.

“We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end,” Dr. King said on April 3, 1968 which was the night before he was assassinated. “Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.”

This year’s anniversary of that painfully dark day will not be recognized with an event at the King Center. Because of the coronavirus, the Center is closed like so many businesses and institutions, and employees are working from home. Yet, true to the legacy of its namesake, efforts to help others continue.

In a video titled “Managing Fear and Anxiety” posted on the Center’s website, Bernice King, youngest daughter of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, acknowledged the dramatic change the world is experiencing and the uncertainty it has spawned.

“My Father was a prophetic leader,” King said. “He made global impact. He faced fear in the Movement that he led over and over again.”

Beloved Community Talks

The video is part of the King Center series, “Beloved Community Talks: Building the Beloved Community in a Time of Crisis”, and addresses many of the emotional challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic: victims infected with the disease, those who have lost a loved one, parents working from home and teaching children who are also home, and families burdened with financial worries connected to coronavirus job loss.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Gloria Morrow and international motivational speaker, Sam Collier, joined the conversation and offered advice.

“I’m so happy that you normalized those feelings because all of us have been hit by what’s going on,” Morrow, who is also an author, said when King admitted having moments of fear despite her faith. “So, the person that walks around saying, ‘Oh, it doesn’t bother me, I’m strong in the Lord and that’s all right.’ No. Everybody has been hit.”

Morrow mentioned she has been placed on furlough from her job for two weeks or more without pay during the outbreak and underscored the need to admit the anxiety permeating many lives.

“It’s out of that normal fear and anxiety like you needed to have when you were taking that test so you would study,” she explained. “So, now we need to have a little bit of that…so, it helps us push forward.”

However, King, Morrow and Collier cautioned against “languishing” in the anxiety and pointed out the difference between “healthy” behaviors and those considered alarming.

Morrow said, “Now, if it becomes overburdening, where now I’m really paralyzed, I don’t want to leave my room, I’m not eating, I’m not sleeping, I’m probably self-medicating…doing things that are harmful to myself. I’m going to the supermarket buying up everything I can buy, even though I know that it’s going to be restocked, the market will be restocked, and I can go back. But, I’m operating now out of that paranoia and fear, then that’s when we’ve gone on the other side of this.”

Steely Determination & Faith

For years, Dr. King and the men and women who dreamt of and fought against injustice stared down racist government officials and the gatekeepers of discrimination. Without question, they lived with anxiety as their homes were bombed, and they spent nights in jails. Uncertainty characteristic of this pandemic dogged their days during the Civil Rights Movement. And, yet Dr. King and others stayed the course.

On the last night of his life, Dr. King told the crowd at Mason Temple, “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you…[But], I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

A master class in grace under pressure. Not just that night but so many before. Now, in an unprecedented time in our lifetimes, the King Center offers an encouraging light.

Black History

Trump Signs Executive Orders That Will Impact HBCUs and Black Schoolchildren

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and establish a White House Initiative on HBCUs to “deliver high-quality education to a growing number of students.”

According to the White House, the Initiative will help develop private-sector partnerships, institutional development and workforce preparation in technology, health care, manufacturing and finance. 

The president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Dr. Harry L. Williams said, “Today’s executive order serves as strong reaffirmation of President Trump’s support of investment of historically Black colleges and universities. This executive order should serve as a call-to-action for corporations, foundations, members of Congress and state lawmakers to redouble their efforts to support HBCUs and their students. TMCF looks forward to continued engagement with the administration and Congress to deliver results for HBCUs and the students they serve via appropriations and other legislative actions.”

On the same day, Trump signed another executive order that removes safeguards for African American schoolchildren by eliminating an Obama-era initiative to protect Black schoolchildren from excessive disciplinary action.

During the Obama administration, the first Black president’s administration created guidelines that sought to prevent school discipline from having a disproportionate effect on minority students. Trump revoked the civil rights initiative during his first term and Biden did not formally restore it. 

At his signing today, Trump said his decision was especially important to the current Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who held the signed order.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, schools were forced to consider equity and inclusion when imposing discipline,” McMahon said in a statement. “Their policies placed racial equity quotas over student safety – encouraging schools to turn a blind eye to poor or violent behavior in the name of inclusion.”

She added, “Disciplinary decisions should be based solely on students’ behavior and actions.

Studies show that Black students are punished more often than their white counterparts.

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Black History

President Jimmy Carter Appointed the First Black Woman to Lead a Federal Agency

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President Jimmy Carter advanced opportunities for African Americans throughout his life,
advocating for justice and peace consistent with the Christian values he embraced. Since his
death on December 29 at age 100, Mr. Carter’s praises have been sung from his home state of
Georgia to points around the globe. And while the former president’s one-term in the White
House is dismissed by some political pundits for a lack of policies or accomplishments that
changed the course of history, his character and integrity set him apart.


Carter became the first president to appoint a Black woman head of a federal agency. He chose
Patricia Roberts Harris to lead the Housing and Urban Development when he took office in
1977.


Harris said, “I feel deeply proud and grateful this President chose me to knock down this barrier, but also a little sad about being the ‘first Negro woman,’ because it implies we were not
considered before.”


Senator William Proxmire questioned Carter’s choice, saying Harris came from too much wealth and influence to be an effective leader. But Carter stood by his decision, and Harris stayed in the position for two years.


The 39th president’s name is also included on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.


Civil rights activist, Rev. Al Sharpton recalled a conversation he shared with Carter.


“It was very significant, I was talking there at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial, and I was talking to President Clinton and President Carter,” Sharpton recalled. “And when Clinton and I finished talking, President Carter touched me on my arm and said, ‘How are you doing with your ministry, Al? I see you out there with your activism. Don’t leave your ministry … keep your prayer life going.’ And you could tell he sincerely meant it. He was not one who talked about his religion as a political kind of something you could say to voters.”


President Joe Biden declared January 9, 2025, a national day of mourning. Millions watched the former president’s funeral on television as he was remembered as a man of honesty,
compassion and faith – which included championing the rights of Americans who knew firsthand the struggle of injustice

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Black History

The Congressional Black Caucus Prepares for “Important” Work

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The Congressional Black Caucus started the 119th Congress with its largest membership. There were 62 members sworn in today.

“On behalf of the entire Congressional Black Caucus, congratulations to the members of the Executive Committee of the 119th Congress. 53 years after our Caucus’ founding, our work to improve the lives and conditions of Black people in America is more important than ever before,” said CBC President Steven Horsford.

Photo Credit: Ron Busby, U.S. Black Chambers Inc.

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