My dad, Earl R. said that Memphis in 1968 from a teenager's point of view, was a good place to live. It had low crime and fast cars. Most teenagers were not aware of the treatment the city government gave to the black sanitation employees. He feels like most of his friends would not have approved of such treatment. He and his friends did not become aware of those practices until the garbage strike. That treatment made him change how he felt about his city's government. His life in 1968 was pretty much carefree. All he cared about was getting out of high school and going into the Marine Corps. Today his life is typical of any parent's. He goes to work, worries about his family, the future and how much Washington is going to screw up the country and his life, along with the life of every other person in America.
The night Martin Luther King was killed, he says that the day was a regular day. He went to school then to work. He heard about it at work and everyone was shocked at what they heard. Every employee was sent home early because there was a curfew and everyone had to be off the streets by seven o'clock. He supposes things changed throughout the night; the rest of the country seemed to be in more turmoil, than Memphis was. The curfew continued for sometime, but he really cannot remember how long. No one could do much except for go to work, school and church. Memphis was nailed down. My dad said that his night was fairly quiet once he got home from work. He knows that the police had some problems though. He told me that as far as his opinion of King goes, he was like the average teenager. He did not pay much attention to current events. But he knew that King was a man of peace and that he wanted to make life better for all people that suffered under the white man's rule unjustly. After his death, till this day he feels the same way. His life did not change after King's death. It took awhile, but people did begin to act different and view problems in a different manner. Today, he feels that relations between the races have worsened under the present administration.