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As National Guard soldiers come in memphisThe memories of thousands of them in 1968 with bayoneted rifles and tanks are still fresh for Calhoun. At that time, he worked with sanitation workers and Rev. Marched in the streets with Martin Luther King Jr.
About 1,300 people came mainly to support the King Black Sanitation workers are on strike to protest inhuman treatment after the death of two laborers due to a malfunction in the garbage truck. King led a demonstration in late March, but it turned violent when police and protesters clashed and an officer shot a 16-year-old boy. The National Guard immediately responded and lined the streets.
“You felt very uncomfortable going about your daily routine, especially at night,” Calhoun said. “They were stopping cars and randomly kicking people out.”
Al Lewis, then 14, still remembers a week later when Walter Cronkite said on television that King had been shot in his hometown. Almost immediately, gunfire began with such noise that Lewis said he had not heard such volume of gunfire since New Year’s Eve. The National Guard immediately returned, and saw military vehicles and soldiers in the city during the day and Guard members on night patrol in the neighborhoods.
chairman donald trump It was announced last month that the National Guard would be deployed along with officers from multiple federal agencies to combat crime in Memphis. Republican Governor Bill Lee, who supports the effort, said troops would be deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service to “play a critical support role” for local law enforcement. According to the city, Guard members will not have tanks.
Some Tennessee Guard members are already assisting with community safety patrols, security and traffic control to help reduce crime, said Capt. Kelly Moriarty, a spokeswoman for the state troop department. It’s not clear how many Guard members are on the ground or if they are expected to arrive later.
A handful of people were seen leaving the Shelby County Office of Preparedness last week. While state and federal authorities have become increasingly visible in Memphis, troops have still not been seen in large numbers. At least nine armed Guard members patrolled Friday near the pyramid, an iconic Memphis landmark, and a visitor welcome center. Mississippi River,
Over the years, Memphis has dealt with high violent crime, including assaults, carjackings, and murders. While this year’s statistics show improvements in many categories, including murders, many acknowledge that violence remains a problem.
The city is a majority black epicenter of the civil rights movement, where residents like Calhoun and Lewis recall the Guard’s response to more than one period of unrest. A decade after King’s assassination, soldiers were deployed during a strike by firefighters and police in Memphis, when parts of the city were set on fire.
Calhoun, 75, remains an activist and recently marched against the current deployment. He expected to never see the National Guard in his city again.
He said, “I have four grandchildren, everything I do is to help make a better world for them, so they don’t have to go through the same thing. But it’s taken longer than I thought.”
Memphis is at ‘critical moment,’ governor says
Lee previously said he did not expect to have more than 150 troops in Memphis, although he has since said there is no estimate.
Lee said in response to a reporter’s question, “You talked about the National Guard being in Memphis at a critical moment; I think this is a critical moment for that city.” “They are plagued by violence.”
Memphis was one of several locations in the South where the National Guard was deployed during the Civil Rights Movement, including Little Rock, Arkansas; Oxford, Mississippi; And location in Alabama.
A ‘show of strength’ in 1968
Looking back to 1968, Calhoun remembers sleeping in the Claiborne Temple and making the now famous “I am a man” sign for sanitation workers. And he remembers officers throwing tear gas into the church.
Associated Press articles document the ensuing military presence, including this description from March 30, 1968: “Heavily armed police and 4,000 National Guard, sent to maintain order … patrolled the area around historic Beale Street. Plyboarded store fronts and broken glass stood as evidence of Thursday’s violence.”
As protesters poured out of Claiborne Temple for another mass march, the AP documented how “the National Guard advanced in a show of force, including four armored personnel carriers with mounted .30 caliber machine guns, six jeeps and several trucks loaded with personnel.”
King blamed “a small group of young extremists” for the violence during the march.
“If I had known that violence would erupt, I would not have come,” King said in the AP account. “I would have stopped the march.”
Calhoun said the troops, some armed and others in armored vehicles, “presented a very impressive sight for little children to see this on their way to school, to church or whatever. So, we don’t want to see it at all.”
Additionally, he said Guard members at checkpoints targeted and harassed people participating in the 1968 march in the city.
The soldiers returned after the assassination of the king.
After a week of violence, King returned to Memphis, where he promised to lead a second, peaceful march despite a federal court order. But on April 4 he was killed by a sniper while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.
The assassination sparked civil unrest in Memphis and other American cities.
About 4,000 National Guard troops were reactivated in Memphis and a curfew was imposed, the AP reports.
Lewis, now 71, had seen Guard vehicles and armed Guard members on foot in the downtown area, but he never saw them fire weapons or get physical with anyone. He saw some youths throwing Molotov cocktails into a furniture store and setting it on fire.
Lewis said, “I didn’t know what was happening. It was kind of like an attack.” “I felt fear and excitement, if you can understand these two events together. I had no idea what was going to happen and how far it was going to go.”
The guard once used to put out fires is ‘beautifying’ Memphis today
In 1978, Lewis was working for the US Postal Service when local police and firefighters went on strike. Because of his job, he was allowed to walk home from work, despite the curfew, and pass through guard checkpoints in the early morning darkness. He recalls guard members extinguishing the fire.
“The police and fire departments were on strike, and there were a lot of fires being set and a lot of looting going on,” Lewis said. “Still, I don’t feel the same danger as I did when King was killed.”
Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, listed some roles he thinks the Guard can help with now. These include monitoring police cameras, “beautifying” neighborhoods or helping the homeless population.
Young said he understands the community’s fear about the upcoming crackdown, referencing the deployment after King’s assassination.
“We don’t want to apply the same images here,” Young said.
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Mattis reported from Nashville, Tennessee. Sarit Hand, Associated Press corporate archivist in New York City, contributed.