I am interviewing Sandra O. who is my Mom. Sandra is a mother of 5 and has lived in Memphis most of her life. She lived here until she graduated high school in 1980.She then went to Israel for a year, and afterwards moved to New York. She moved back to Memphis when she got married in 1991. Sandra is now the Kitchen Manager at the Margolin Hebrew Academy. I will be writing a story based on my mother’s life the day Martin Luther King was shot.
I was 5 years old on April 4th, 1968. I lived in a little house in East Memphis on Brantford where everybody used to play. All the kids got together and just played at each other’s houses. When I came home from school I usually played with my brother or my sister. I had the same daily routine most of the time but one day was a little different. At 6:01 pm on April 4th, my mother turned on the TV. She saw that Martin Luther King Junior was shot to death on the balcony at the Lorraine Hotel in downtown Memphis. My mom was very upset. She thought to herself, "Why did this happen? What did he do to get shot?" Since I was only 5, I didn't really know who was. My mom told me, "Your father is stuck downtown and we don't know where he is" and that's when I felt fear. Riots were going on everywhere and it wasn't safe to be out. There was a curfew where you had to stay in your house to make sure everyone was okay. We didn't have cell phones so we couldn't call. I remember crying with my mom and my siblings hoping that he would come home safe. As the night went on I was scared for the city and for my father, but at the same time I was very little so I didn't know exactly what was going on. A few hours later I remember my father walking in the house, and we were so relieved. His car broke down and a few African Americans helped him out and fixed the car. I'm so thankful that my father came home safely and alive, without any injuries. After MLK died I learned a few things about him. I learned that he was a peace fighter, a freedom fighter and he wanted equality for the black people. I think he was very noble getting freedom and getting rights for the black people. Just because people are different colors, doesn’t mean they should be treated any differently.