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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 12, 1994)
Wednesday, January 12, 1994 Daily Nebraskan I) kb Mcadams Memphis motel stirs emotions Just around the comer from the boiling blues of Beale Street, boarded windows and graffiti scribbled walls share a Memphis neighborhood with renovated front ages and spruce-colored miniblinds. In the midst of this lukewarm rede velopment is a Formica-yellow build ing straight out of the Jetsons. Time is frozen at 450 Mulberry St., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his last night on Earth. King may have celebrated his 65th birthday this Saturday had he not stepped onto the balcony of Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. But he did step outside, and as he visited with Jesse Jackson in the parking lot below, rifle fire ripped into King’s face and out through his spinal cord. The man with a dream and four children was dead at age 39. The Lorraine Motel is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. There’s a ticket booth where the front desk may have been. Immediately behind the ticket booth is a large, open foyer housing a room-size sculpture of a mountain. Hundreds of small,, human figures form a line that spirals around the mountain, each one help ing the next to climb another step. The faces are intentionally black. In a small, dark room past the foyer, a temporary exhibit dedicated to Malcolm X was displayed. Bom Malcolm Little in Omaha on May 19, 1925, his life was shadowed by vio lence and enigma. Malcolm Little lost his father to a violent mob. As “Detroit Red,” he went to Charleston State Prison for robbery. At Charles ton, he cursed Christianity so vehe mently that other inmates called him “Satan.” Soon, “Satan” found Allah and became Malcolm X. His memorial at the National Civil Rights Museum was a collage ofblunt video images and shotgun bursts of his angry, booming voice calling for separation. It leaves a visitor disturbed r Those visitors are black, white, Asian and Hispanic. Some are probably unaware, curious and maybe skeptical, but all leave Room 306 in silence. _ and uncertain, as did the man. The main hall of the museum hous es a collection that tells the story of a revolution. As revolutions go, ordi nary people behaved with extraordi nary courage. A 42-year-old, soft-spoken seam stress refused to give up her bus seat to a man who happened to be white. A year later, the buses of the Montgom ery, Ala., public transportation sys tem were desegregated. A combat veteran of World War II returned from Normandy to die in Jackson, Miss., fighting for his right to vote and to buy his lunch wherever he chose. In Topeka, Kan., the father of an 8 year-old girl hired a lawyer when the child was denied access to an elemen tary school five blocks from their home. Nearly five years later, the Supreme Court directed states to end public school segregation “with all deliberate speed.” At the top of the steps, Room 306 is preserved under glass. Two beds, like the ones that Ralph Abernathy and Dr. King slept in on the night of April 3, 1968, sit behind a plate glass wall. The beds are unmade, and a couple of coffee cups sit nearby. Immediately to the left are the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony. There are no bloodstains on the balcony anymore. There are no overt signs of violence. There is only the audible wave of grief that passes through the visitors as they compre hend where they are standing. Those visitors are black, white, Asian and Hispanic. Some are proba bly unaware, curious and maybe skep tical, but all leave Room 306 in si lence. Twenty-six years after King’s death, our society has become mar ginally tolerant, but we have not elim inated the philosophy of bigotry. We continue to hammer a gavel at preju dice instead of trying to understand its roots in fear and inferiority. A bright, young student eager to go to college in his home state attended his first day of classes at the Univer sity of Mississippi accompanied by federal marshals and the National Guard. Rosa Parks, Mcdgar Evers, Thurgood Marshall and James Meredith were among the ordinary people who demanded human digni ty, and in doing so, they changed the behavior of a society. The main hall of the museum gives way to a stairway lined with photos of protest marches and peaceful sit-ins. As long as we direct our govern ment to value power structures in stead of families and children, the poor and uneducated will be with us. Until those of us who are able use our influence to alleviate the degradation of poverty, fear and inferiority will plague our citizens, and hate and vio lence will infect our neighborhoods. McAdams Is a junior news-editorial ma jor and a Dally Nebraskan columnist. -1 I For more information and an application, please attend one of the following information sessions: January 11 January 12 January 13 January 14 2:30-4:00 PM 7:30-9:00 PM 1:30-3:00 PM 3:30-5:00 PM Nebraska City Union Nebraska City Union Nebraska City Union Nebraska City Union UNI. docs not discriminate in its academic, admissions, or employment programs and abides by all federal and state regulations pertaining to same. 5 Visits for $11.00 Expires 1-31-94 Limit 2 All tans are not created equal' ACternative'T A M 4 48th & R, Centro Plaza 466-1201 PLAY BOOK LOTTO and buy your textbooks at NEBR4SI0 BOOKSTORE 13th & Q 476-0111 You could win your textbooks FREE (up to 18 credits) game ends January 14,1994 BOWLERS o i Join the Fun Join a League LEAGUE STARTING DATE AND TIME HUSKER.MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 6:(X) P.M. PIN POUNDERS.MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 8:0() P.M. BIG 8 DOUBLES.TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 7:00 P.M. 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