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Reply to Mike Price "Were You There for Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' Speech?"

John Witherspoon

February 7, 2014

Category: Society > Rights

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I'm submitting a reply to the article by Mike Price entitled "Were You There for Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' Speech?"

l was not at the speech, but l was in Memphis when the Rev. Dr. King was shot. As a hospital-based medical student at the time, l experienced the full force of the horror that engulfed the city, the street fighting, the spinoff violence, the onslaught of injured in the Emergency Rooms — those out at night like myself — in and out of the hospitals. We were encouraged to go "armed," and l had a Colt Combat Commander 45, but with no intention of violence or using it.

Thank God that this all passed after several months — a formative experience — one of many.