Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jan. 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Jan. 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

Most Americans can’t remember the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. They hadn’t yet been born by April 4, 1968, the day an assassin’s bullet snuffed out King’s life on the balcony of a Memphis, Tenn., motel.

But like any truly historic figure, King left a name and a legacy that is recognized today even by generations who succeeded him.

King was in Memphis the day he was killed to lend his support to striking black sanitation workers in the city. It was a reflection of what some King scholars say was a shift in his emphasis from the traditional civil rights struggles of the day toward a broader campaign for peace and the eradication of poverty regardless of race.

Contemplating what he might have accomplished had he been given more time boggles the mind. His time on the national and international stage was cut terribly short. It spanned a period of just 13 years, from his emergence as a leader during the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott of 1955 until his assassination.

What might have been

There is little question that the tragedy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination spurred some quick advances in civil rights that might not have come for decades. But what might King have accomplished if he had been given, at least, his biblical three score and 10?

During that time, he would have been raising his voice against the war in Vietnam, which brought down a Democratic incumbent, Lyndon Johnson, and installed Republican Richard Nixon, who said he had a secret plan to end the war. Imagine the speeches King could have given as years passed and the war dragged on.

What might King have said and done during the decades after his death as drugs reached deeper and deeper into the black community, as single mothers became the norm rather than the exception, as black-on-black violence made homicide the leading cause of death among young black men, as the coarseness of the rap culture took hold, as more inner city students dropped out than graduated high school and as more black males went to prison than college.

Most Americans have never seen Martin Luther King Jr. except in flashbacks and news clips. And it is probably no coincidence that during the years he has been gone so much dysfunction has taken hold in communities that he dreamed of improving.

Were it not for the hate behind a bullet on that April day 40 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. would be 79 years old today. If his heart could have borne the pain of what he would have seen during those four decades.