Mr. Claude Isaiah J. was thirty years old in 1968. He started working for the Tennessee Bureau Investigation (TBI) as a field agent in 1965. Before working for the TBI, Mr. J. worked for the Highway Patrol for eight years. He had his first job working at a local drugstore when he was nine years old, because he had to support his family. He said his hard childhood made him the man he is today. Being the first black officer at the time, he had to fight through segregation and discrimination. He said he did not let segregation hinder him in doing his job. Eventually, the fight and drive that he had got him the prestigious rank of TBI Director. He lived in Bartlett, and he said it was like it is today. Safety is what stood out to him the most about living in the Memphis area. Mr. J. said when someone needed the Bartlett PD, they were quick to come. In 1968, a typical day for him would first start out at the office. If he was in the process of working a case he would skip going to the office first and go straight to the location. He said his work that he did is not different from today. He said, "crime doesn't change it just gets bigger."
"Hectic" is the one word he used to describe the day Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. Mr Johnson said they wore plain clothes, stayed under over, and followed him in crowds that day for his protection. After work was over, Mr. J. was heading home when King was shot. He immediately went to the crime scene and started following leads with his team. He said the team and him and the other departments never went home that night, they went straight to following leads on King's assassination. Mr. J. said there were chaotic riots that night where the blacks were burning buildings and cars. Mr. Johnson said during this uncertain time there was no planning, only reacting. He said they had to react to the blacks actions. There was a rumor that the PD shot King. The PD would be shot at from people because of this rumor. Mr. Johnson said they had to find evidence not only to clear their name, but to also find justice for King's assassination. Mr. Johnson could not tell me everything because some of it was confidential. However, he said that a man saw another man dispose of the rifle that was used to shoot King. They followed that lead and overnight they found out where is was made and who bought it. They had enough information to follow the man that shot King, James Earl Ray, who escaped to Arkansas at the time, the night King was shot.
In Mr. J.'s words, King was a "God sent man, deeply religious, and honest as the day is long". Mr. J. said King definitely preached what he believed. It was noticeable through his actions that King believed in non-violence and equal rights for whites and blacks. Mr. J. said life did change after King's death; in fact, King's death turned the race problem around for the better. After King's death, a lot of the white people had a different point of view than what they had before his death. A lot of whites were turned away from their past ways from before King's death, and took up what King taught everyone to do: non violence. Blacks were hired for more jobs and were promoted more after King's death. Mr. J. said King's death sped up the relationship between whites and blacks.
Mr. J. said King was "a mountain of a man". He said there were some of King's followers that were not for the same cause. Some of his people believed in creating violence. For example, Malcolm X was not apart of King, but he was one of them that created the violence that
King was trying to put out. King was able to "win out" all the people around him that may have not believed in non-violence. Mr. J. said that King did not just believe in equality for blacks but also equality for whites. He said some blacks called the white man the devil. King did not like that, that went against everything he believed and preached. Mr. J. said King truly believed in equality for everyone. He said King never lost is sight on what he taught and believed.