James L. lived East Memphis on 1363 Woodston. Neighborhoods were very segregated in the 1960's and not a single black person loved in his neighborhood. He was a 6th grader at Colonial Elementary school. Jimmy, as everyone called him, would go to the YMCA almost everyday after school for sports- football, basketball, or baseball. He and his friends rode their bikes or walked almost everywhere. They could go to the movie theater for a dime or by a coke for 15 cents. On April 4, 1968 Jimmy was 10 years old, soon to be 11 in July. He remembers it was a Thursday and he was at home watching TV. He remembers his mom putting the news on ams shortly after they heard the news. As an 11 year old in his part of town it didn't seem like a very big deal to him then. Also, he had very unprejudiced parents for the time. The assassination of MLK had very little affect on his preteen life right then except that he got out of school for a couple of days. He remembers one time, a group of people marched down his street because they weren't rioting downtown and his mom made him come inside. Luckily he and his family were at home safe on the night after king was shot because their were many riots downtown and in other parts. Luther Welch, one of the elders from his church, White Station Church of Christ, had his store broken into and ransacked that night. King has meant more to Jimmy now as an adult than he did in 1968. Then he was only a kid and couldn't see the gravity of the entire situation. Now Jimmy has heard his speeches and can see what MLK died for. But life wasn't fixed immediately after the shooting. Racial issues have been a slow change. The people whose attitudes changed are the people who listened and let their attitudes change. But segregation was still and issue for a while and in his opinion there are still issues today.