52nd City

Bernie Hayes Understands: April 4, 1968

Reprinted with the permission of author:

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April 4, 1968 - A Peaceful Night in St. Louis!
By Bernie Hayes

April 4, 2008, marked the fortieth anniversary of the assignation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There were thousands of ceremonies around the nation memorializing the event. On 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down in Memphis, Tennessee. He was undoubtedly the most famous and influential leader of the Peace and Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

In the wake of the assassination of Dr. King, riots raged in 85 cities and continued into the next week, ending with more than 40 people killed, mostly African Americans, as well as 2,500 injured and 21,000 arrested.

While elsewhere in the nation, the violent reaction to King's killing was spreading, St. Louis was relatively peaceful and calm during the four nights of sporadic arson, looting and vandalism in the largely African-American communities. Why? When the defender and supporter of peace had fallen, where were the militants and other who were torn apart by bitterness and a desire for revenge?

St. Louis today is considered by many a racially polarized and sometimes violent city, by way of its many protests and demonstrations, but why was it so quiet when Dr. King was killed? How and why did we somehow remain peaceful and nonviolent? There were many public gatherings and solemn observances, and although crowds gathered, they remained and dispersed peacefully. Why?

Civil rights activists Norman Seay said "the threat of violence led to an increase in tension, and as the riots in Newark, Chicago and the other cities burned, some how we remained solemn but vigilant, for we knew what could have happened in St. Louis throughout that riotous and turbulent night. While the attention of the state and region and possibly the nation were on us, the tolerance of smaller-scale violence and illegality by those who wanted to start trouble were convinced by the greater majority that such acts would not be tolerated. Therefore the evening passed without many serious incidents."

Percy Green in 1968 was considered one of the major Black nationalists and civil rights activist of the area, and he contends the only reason is that St. Louis was lucky because "we had every for rioting but the area did not have the proper chemistry." Green said "although St. Louis had more than its fair share of police brutality incidents," not one of those incidents occurred at a time to provide a 'perfect storm' to ignite a riot.

"High unemployment, under employment, employment racial discrimination against African American men was the stagnant agent that made the city ready to explode."

Johnny Scott, president of the E. St. Louis chapter of the NAACP believed his city in 1968 had never been a disruptive place because of racial divisions. He asserted their problems were with St. Clair and Madison County officials. He said "our city didn’t have much to burn, because most of the businesses were owned by African Americans and the rebel rousers were not ready to burn down their own." Scott stressed the towns’ faith and understanding of the Martin Luther King 'I Have a Dream' speech was their guide and the reason the city remained peaceful.

Former KATZ radio personality Doug Eason was on the air when the King murder was announced and he claims he was not allowed to play the recording "Burn Baby Burn." Eason said "management was afraid the recording would cause an escalation of vandalism and violence, and episodes of civil disobedience. They feared acts of wrongdoing would lead to more serious crime, and acts of lawlessness would cause more serious problems."

As violent as the city is today it should make us wonder why some of our children are killing themselves are. In 1965, only a few weeks before he was killed, Malcolm X said about self hatred "We didn't want anybody to tell us anything about Africa, and much less call us an African. And in hating Africa and hating the Africans, we end up hating ourselves, without even realizing it because you can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree. You can't hate Africa and not hate yourself."

Our children, the elderly, along with poor and homeless people, must join with the clergy and the community-at-large to show that we are appalled at the killing that is taking place in our village and the depth of depravity of which some are capable. It must stop and we must stop it.

Dr. King left an immense void in our community so we must remain vigilant and we must be inclusive by affirming but respecting our cultural differences, especially with appreciation to color, class, sexual orientation, faith, age and ethnicity.