40 years ago today -
How much does an 8-year-old comprehend about the national news?
I can reflect on that, because it was 40 years ago today that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. (And I’m 48).
Grandmother and Grandfather Williams were visiting with us at the time. At her suggestion, our family went out for dinner, at Flapjacks in Potomac, in his honor. I remember all holding hands around the table as she tried to help the kids (mostly Jane, then 10, Gil, then 9, and me) understand.
I know that I didn’t understand at the time. But I do recall looking down River Road toward Washington (it was just 12 miles from Potomac to downtown DC), and seeing the red glow of flames and rioting.
Grandmother Williams, it turned out, had a very, very strong sense of social justice in her. That became very clear to me years later, when she was so upset over the death of Mitch Snyder, the leader of the homeless cause in Washington. I always admired that in Grandmother.
April 5th, 2008 at 12:13 am
That is an amazing memory. Thanks for writing it down.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:23 am
I don’t remember what went on at the dinner, just that we had it. I do remember the sky being lit up and knew the city was burning but it was years later that I realized it was the rioting over MLK that caused it.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:24 am
Annie’s comment is interesting, and I’m glad she added it. If I was 8, Annie was 4 — and she remembers the event, too.
Additionally, it was only reading the papers last week about the 40th anniversary that I realized that King Jr had just taken up the cause of sanitation workers in Memphis.