The Final Days Part One

The fourth section was called The Final Days (it also had a slide presentation), the speakers in this section were Jesse Jackson, Billy Kyles, and Ben Hooks. All three of these speakers had very strong emotional speeches. Ben Hooks said a very meaningful statement in his speech, he said, “The civil rights movement did not start in the 1950s, the civil rights movement started in 1619.” This really spoke out to me; I never really thought about how many centuries that African Americans were denied privileges and freedom. Jesse Jackson had teary eyes the majority of the time he was talking. My notes that I took for Jesse Jackson are really blurry, but I remember that he mentioned that they MLK and everyone in the movement were in constant terror. I also remember that Jesse Jackson was one of the few speakers that went on stage with out any notes or books. His speech was in his head, and straight from the heart. I think that is why he had tears in his eyes, because everything he said was sincere storytelling. Billy Kyles was my favorite speaker of the evening, he was very articulate and his story gave me the chills. Billy Kyles was with MLK his last hour. Kyles mentioned that he could not believe that it had been forty years since the incident, and it has been a year older than MLK was. MLK was only 39 when he was assassinated. Billy Kyles said that MLK was waving at people below the balcony at the motel, and then Kyles heard a shot. Kyles held bleeding MLK who had been shot in the right side of his neck.