On childhood memories of growing up the child of Martin Luther King, Jr:
Martin Luther King III: Dad was kind of like a buddy to us. He was like our playmate, because when he came home, he didn’t have a large quantity of time, but the quality was remarkable. Some days we were playing football in the front yard, he’d toss the ball, or baseball. Dexter and I also travel with Dad about a half dozen times so I remember seeing him in the context of his work.
This piece is a part of the Prime Time Special, “Remembering the Dream,” the multi-media platforms of 11Alive examine the Journey from 1968 to 2018. Watch the special on Wednesday April 4 at 7PM on 11Alive.
Question: You were just 5-years-old, right? So, what do you remember from back in that time?
Bernice King: Absolutely nothing! (Laughing) I literally don’t remember anything on the day of the assassination.
Question: You’d just had a birthday?
Bernice King: I did, seven days prior, I did, and we celebrated it actually the day after my birthday because March 28th he was leading the march in Memphis. So, he came home the next day and we celebrated then.
Question: Where we you and how did you find out about what happened with your dad?
Martin Luther King III: We were all at home watching the evening news, and it was around, I believe 7:15 and it was flashed over the news that that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had just been shot. We hear this obviously, we were shaken. I remember some of us going back to mother’s and dad’s room to talk to her to see if she knew what was going on.
And she explained to us that your dad has been taken away. I don’t remember if she said he was gunned down. But she said something like your father’s gone home to live with God.
Bernice King: My mother went to Memphis, flew to Memphis to bring the body back and they were getting ready to bring us up on the airplane, she realizes “oops” I didn’t tell, my nickname at the time, was Bunny. So, she had to speak to me, and to prepare me that your father has gone on to live with God and when you see him, you will not be able to speak with you. He’s a spirit now.
Reflection from the day of Dr. King’s funeral:
The day of the funeral, which was April 9th, I remember, it was just a lot of lights, camera lights and it was hot. I fell asleep, from what I’m told, somebody carried me and we got to Morehouse, I remember seeing the casket it seems kind of crooked on the stage, now why…kids you know they notice weird stuff.
Martin Luther King III: I remember us marching down Auburn Avenue to Morehouse College. I’ve never seen as many people as I saw back in 1968 on the streets from Auburn Avenue all the way down, now Martin Luther King, I think it would have been Hunter Street at the time, all the way to Morehouse College, all the way to the cemetery, where dad’s remains were initially placed, and I’ve never seen it so quiet. It was, I mean to see that many people and the quietness and the respect apparently that existed, you know it was a somber day. It was sad, but it was very, very powerful.
Question: What do you think people will remember most when it comes to your father, in terms of reflecting on his life and legacy?
Bernice King: I think people are going to be thinking about different things. I think some people are going to be thinking about the day. You know, where they were that day, and what they felt losing him, that segment of the population that was here. I think there are others who are going be thinking about what he was doing, just prior to his assassination, fighting and standing up for the rights of sanitation workers, fair treatment, fair wages, same fight today. And then I think other people are going just think about wow, how we need his now. We need his voice, his message and his moral fortitude.
Question: How do you think we’d be different today as America, and Americans had your father not been taken that day?
Bernice King: Who knows? I would hope we would have embraced some of the things he challenged us with, such as the revolution of values, becoming not just a society, but a world that began to focus more on being people centered and not things centered. He cautioned us against becoming so engulfed in science and technology that we lose the essence of our humanity, and dignity and the value and worth of an individual. To me, I think those are the epitome of what he left for us to grapple with and that’s desperately needed.
On carrying the name Martin Luther King:
Martin Luther King III: Every day that I wake up I feel extraordinarily blessed and honored to carry this name and this legacy. Because all over the world there are streets and schools and memorials named in his honor.
