During the assassination, I was 26, and living in Frayser. During that time, it was horrible, and there was a lot of turmoil. Living in Memphis, had a lot of racism, and unequal rights. In 1968, I was working at Firestone. I was in management training, I did overtime. I went to Memphis State for 2 and 1/2 years. I also did night school for 1 and 1/2 years. It is different from today, because there is still a lot of unsettled things.
The day MLK was assassinated, I was at work. During that day, there was a lot of National Guard trucks. There were more riots than usual. I felt lost with the whole situation. For the rest of the day, I stayed at work. I acted normal for the day, everyone around me were different. Some were fine with the situation, some were not. Throughout the night, there was looting, and rioting.
During that night, it was horrible. With the riots, and the looting. I stayed at home during that nigh. I didn't understand it at all. The day was different. I had different emotions about the King. I thought he made excellent points, but I thought some people wouldn't understand.
Life changed after that day. Some people acted differently, some didn't. People's attitudes changed, yet some didn't. During that time, I want to point out the changes. I saw many good changes. And I saw a lot of things that still needed to change. The whole middle class was affected.