This summer I visited the Lorraine Motel in Memphis with my 13-year-old son James. It is the place that Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot on the 2nd-floor balcony.
We weren’t participating in dark tourism. Not familiar with the term? Dark tourism is “the act of travel and visitation to sites, attractions, and exhibitions which have real or recreated death, suffering or the seemingly macabre as a main theme.” We were seeking light.
The infamous Lorraine Motel is now a part of the National Civil Rights Museum. A place that turns the journey of civil rights into a one-of-a-kind museum experience. The culmination of that experience ends on the 2nd-floor of the motel. You view Room 306 and look out onto the balcony. It gives me chills just thinking about it.
A day before his death, MLK delivered the prophetic “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech:
“Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now…I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”
In the speech, King calls for unity and nonviolent protest. He challenges our country to live up to its ideals. It was important then and vital now.
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