(5 of 13)
IT TOOK A FLYING WEDGE OF PREACHERS AND SANITATION WORKERS to guide King's party into the cavernous Mason Temple through crowded aisles and a pulsing crescendo of cheers. Against all fire codes, some spectators climbed high into rafters from which was suspended a giant white banner with a Bible quote from Zechariah: NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS, BUT BY MY SPIRIT. The platform below teemed with dignitaries plus three stately new garbage cans filled with donations. When King in his blue suit reached the bank of microphones, the noise receded no lower than a constant hum, and applause erupted again each time he paid tribute to their unity and purpose. "You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor," he said.
They clapped when he asked if they knew most poor people worked every day, and even cheered most sentences of his exegesis on the parable of Lazarus. "You are here to demand that Memphis will see the poor," King cried. Energy in the hall brimmed so close to the surface that he backed off to summarize the previous decade. "Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality," he resumed. There was no need to build or persuade by the rules of oratory, as a feeder line in rhythm easily rekindled the crowd. "We are tired," said King. "We are tired of being at the bottom. ["Yes!"] We are tired ... We are tired of our men being emasculated so that our wives and our daughters have to go out and work in the white lady's kitchen." He used old riffs and improvised new ones on staying together and the nature of power. "Power is the ability to achieve purpose," said King, to applause. "Power is the ability to effect change ... and I want you to stick it out so that you will be able to make Mayor Henry Loeb and others say 'Yes' even when they want to say 'No.'" He paused through the next ovations with a quizzical look.
"Now you know what?" he asked. "You may have to escalate the struggle a bit." His conversational tone for once hushed the crowd. "If they keep refusing, and they will not recognize the union," said King, "I tell you what you ought to do. And you are together here enough to do it. In a few days you ought to get together and just have a general work stoppage in the city of Memphis."
This time cheers rose into sustained, foot-stomping bedlam, which drowned out further words, and King stepped back into the embrace of colleagues already in furious consultation. With Lawson, Andrew Young passed King a note that perhaps he could swing back through Memphis. Temporarily at least, the rejuvenating clamor made the garbage strike seem the heart of a poverty movement instead of a foolish diversion from the march planned for Washington.
Ten days later, King returned to Memphis to participate in another march, but what unfolded not only set back the nonviolence campaign but also set him on the path to his tragic fate.