- [Martin Luther King] Something is
happening in Memphis,
something is happening in our world.
You reveal that you are determined
to go on anyhow.
- [Interviewer] Pastor Smith, thank you
for welcoming us into the beautiful
Mount Moriah-East Baptist Church.
They just celebrated your 50-year
anniversary. So there's a particular
moment that you shared with me
in the past of Dr. King comes to Memphis
to fight on behalf of unfair wages
for fighting for a livable wage for
sanitation workers in this...
- [Dr. Melvin Smith] Well, I'd like to say
it was unfair wages but it was also
very awful working conditions. And when I
say unfair working conditions,
these men did not have the kind of
containers to empty garbage in as we
have today. They carried the garbage in
tubs on tops of their head.
And you can imagine in the summertime with
heat, with flies, you know the results
of that and all this stuff dripping on
them. Then they had no opportunity
to change clothes, to go home.
So whatever they wore during the day
emptying that garbage, they had to
get on the bus with it,
they had to walk home with it.
It was horrible.
Two men were crushed to death
merely because they were trying to
get in the back of a truck. They were just
trying to get out of the rain.
Some button was pushed. They were
crushed in the garbage, you know?
They were just congealed in there.
And that obviously stimulated
the movement. I had an experiment going
at St. Jude. So as soon as I got my
experiment under control, I left to join
the march. When I got to the march,
it was already in progress. The march was
going west on Beale, turning north
on Maine. And I'm midway the end,
about a fourth back in the march.
Well, all of a sudden, you started to
hear screams, then you started to
see smoke. You also heard
the breakage of glass.
What had happened was a group of
young men who did not agree with
Dr. King's philosophy decided to
disrupt the march. They did that
with Dr. King at the head, many of our
city leaders at the head.
So the march reversed itself.
It was just a dark, dim time.
You ran for your life so to speak.
There were dogs, there were
tear gas canisters, there were clubs,
there were motorcycles,
all of the armor that you could get
to disrupt a crowd was there.
- And then following the march, did you
all go and regroup somewhere?
- We did regroup at Clayborn Temple.
And of course, your leaders were making
comments and strategy and prayers and
singing. And I don't know what provoked
this but all of a sudden, tear gas
started into the auditorium.
And my only escape was to jump through a
window. You know, it was not that far
up but I had to jump through the window
and there again run for my life. You know,
we should forever remember Dr. King,
forever remember the movement but to not
remember some evil acts that were just
totally unnecessary.
- So 50 years later when you think about
and reflect on Dr. King's work,
what of Dr. King's work has been completed
and what is still yet to be finished?
- I think Dr. King's dream has become a
reality in a lot of individual lives.
Whether or not we as a whole community,
as a whole race, as a whole people have
done that, I don't know. But to answer
you, have individuals done that?
Yes. I would like to see the whole
be able to do that but then again
that's a choice because of
individualities in there.
- So what has it been like for you
carrying the torch before King
was murdered? And what has it been like in
your own ministry carrying the
torch after?
- Well, before, you had a group of people
basically older than I was,
who had a sense of fear, a sense of
complacency, and of course to preach
to that kind of people was to console
them where they were.
Now I'm with a different group,
a younger group of people that say,
"Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around."
So it's my job to say, "Don't let nobody
turn you around. But you do what you
have to do to keep them from
turning you around." You stay in school,
you get your degree, you stay out of jail,
you live a good life, you do all of the
things so that nobody
can turn you around."
- Something is happening in Memphis,
something is happening in our world.
