Tried to file some Very Important Paperwork today, but it completely completely slipped my mind that city offices would be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death day.
So, next week.
Last night Cameron Harper tweeted a link to the collection of LIFE Magazine photographs from the King murder scene that have just been released to the public for the first time. I clicked through them slowly and felt my breath leave my body and my hand go to my mouth when I saw this one. It was the first time I had ever seen anything like it about King. His death, in many ways, has been moved from the realm of the visceral and placed firmly within the realm of lore. He was there one moment, and gone the next. Those of us viewing his death through the lens of capital-H History have not yet been very well acquainted with the idea of Martin Luther King Jr. as corporeal entity. He has always, to us, been more than that. A prophet, a martyr, an angel.
But these photographs.
He was a mere mortal, full of messy shit that people had to clean up when he left this earth.
Damn. It’s hard to know whether to be comforted or depressed by that.
Very moving. Thanks for sharing the link.
I could handle it all except the picture of his briefcase. It just reminded me so much of my dad’s briefcase and how many times he would pack it and head out to meetings. I mean, yeah, due to history, we know he’s not going home, but it’s so easy to forget that he did indeed expect to.
There is something chilling about that domestic mess in the motel room.
Let’s be sad that he was murdered, but comforted that he was a human being, so inspiring to other human beings that his death didn’t stop the world improving, in memphis and all over the world.
@Cheryl
Glad you liked it. :)
@Aunt B.
Yes, the suitcase picture is phenomenal. Absolutely devastating. And I know you understand it in a way that I can’t even imagine. Just amazing.
@Gordon Rae
True. So even amid tears, let’s say cheers to that.