“Memphis in 1968 had the reputation of being one of the cleanest cities and the quietest, it was unique it was a big town that was called a city. Really just quiet. Yes I was working at the VA hospital but I had a second job at Saint Francis, which at the time was down on Alabama street. So that was where I was at that time.
“Memphis is obviously bigger, it has more upscale restaurants, more upscale.... for instance, The Orpheum is quite popular right now and it’s as good at what they have in New York. The community interests I think is better than it was.
“I remember hearing on the news when we were in the blood bank, myself and another person, and we got the news that he had been shot. We didn't know ‘til about ten minutes later what had really happened. It was a surreal feeling because you knew that the gentleman was here for nonviolent reasons, and when we had heard that he had been shot it was kind of like unnerving because you think, “What going to happen?”
So we got the call, the people in the blood bank, to come to the emergency room. When we got there, there were police and firemen and dignitaries that were with Dr. King at the time in the emergency room. They did not let us draw his blood. One of the doctors did and handed it to us, and then we had to cross match his blood in hope to try and save his life. We went on with what we were doing because we are trained in emergencies, regardless of who it is, you do your job. So as far as the job was concerned nothing changed; we were trying to focus on taking care of our job.
“Shortly after we were told that he had been pronounced dead, we were advised by the police department that there had already been some chaos in the city where there was some burning and looting, so they advised us don't leave the hospital unless you absolutely have to go home and don’t drive down the streets because the police were concentrated on the areas of discontent. So basically I spent the night at the hospital.
“I thought King was a brilliant man, and he saw then what we are seeing now, you know, he had his focus on that. I hope we can listen to his tapes again and say, that’s what we need to do. My life personally did not change after his death, but a lot of lives did change, obviously. One of the things that came out that I noticed was that some people who were really angry, some people who were what we call rednecks were expressing delight, which was troubling. If you look at Ferguson MO, that’s what Memphis was like. But I think the difference is now you can see how Memphis reacted to the Ferguson tragedy this time; it’s peaceful protest just the Dr. King would want.”