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Episode 10: The Memphis Sanitation Strike Ends
When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, Memphis, Tenn., sanitation workers felt a sense of guilt mixed in with their sadness and shock, but they had more work to do. The strike wasn’t over yet. No, it would be another 12 days—12 days filled with determination—before the strike…
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#DianteYarber: California Cops Gun Down Father of 3 in Hail of Bullets. His Crime? Sitting in Walmart’s Parking Lot
Barstow, Calif., police officers fired what sounded like more than 30 bullets into a car in Walmart’s parking lot, killing Diante “Butchie” Yarber, 26, and shooting two other passengers, including 23-year-old Marian Tafoya, who was critically wounded. The incident occurred the morning of April 5, when Yarber, the father of three girls, ages 9, 7…
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Exclusive: R. Kelly Likes Women to Be Like ‘His Puppy, His Mother or His Daughter,’ Says His Latest Accuser
Another day, another young woman coming forward with allegations against alleged serial predator Robert Sylvester Kelly, 51. The young woman was 19 at the time she says she met the singer known as R. Kelly in 2017 at a concert in Dallas. They formed a sexual relationship over the course of 11 months that quickly…
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Erica Garner Posthumously Wins Shorty Award for Social Media Activism
Erica Garner—activist, organizer, writer, comrade, sister, mother and daughter—is the recipient of the 2018 Shorty Award for social media activism. Reggie Harris, Garner’s friend, business partner and political adviser, accepted the award on her behalf. As The Root previously reported, Erica Garner died Dec. 30, one week after suffering a heart attack brought on by…
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Episode 9: ‘We’ve Gotta March Again.’ Sanitation Workers Remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last Battle Cry
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, one day after the funeral of Larry Payne—the 16-year-old boy killed by Memphis Police Officer Leslie Dean Jones. King was exhausted and battling deep depression, the kind that makes it difficult to get out of bed. He was tired of…
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Episode 8: Memphis Police Officer Guns Down 16-Year-Old #LarryPayne as Sanitation Strike Continues
Memphis, Tenn., exploded into chaos on March 28, 1968, as militarized police officers—armed with rifles, tear gas, billy clubs and the full authority of the state—terrorized black protesters who were out in full force to support Memphis sanitation strikers. It was amid this violent siege that Memphis Police Officer Leslie Dean Jones stuck a shotgun…
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Officer Blane Salamoni, Alton Sterling’s Killer, Has Been Fired
Blane Salamoni—the Baton Rouge, La., police officer who killed 37-year-old Alton Sterling on July 5, 2016—has been fired, Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul announced Friday. “These [police officers’] actions were not minor deviations from policy, as they contributed to the outcome that resulted in the death of another human being,” Paul said. Officer Howie…
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Episode 7: Police Officers Terrorize Black Memphis During MLK’s Final March
After speaking to a rapt crowd on March 18, 1968, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Memphis, Tenn., as promised, to march in solidarity with Memphis sanitation strikers. The date was March 28, 1968—50 years ago today—King’s first and only march in Memphis and the last march of his all-too-brief life. He would…
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#AltonSterling: Officers Attempted ‘Lawful Arrest,’ Says Louisiana Attorney General; No Criminal Charges Will Be Filed
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday morning that two Baton Rouge police officers will not face any charges in the July 2016 state-sanctioned shooting death of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old father of five who was selling CDs in front of a Baton Rouge convenience store when he was gunned down by Officer Blane Salamoni,…
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Episode 6: The Memphis Sanitation Strike From the Wives’ Perspective
During the 1968 Memphis, Tenn., sanitation strike, there were no signs that read “I am a woman” or “I am a wife” or “I am a mother.” The wives of sanitation strikers were given no awards for their tireless contributions to the struggle, but they should have been. Sanitation strikers consulted with their wives before…
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