It still haunts us. We stood just feet away from the place where Martin Luther King. Jr. was shot in Memphis, Tenn. Across the street, we got to see exactly what his shooter saw before squeezing the trigger.
We were together, 19 of us, students from the University of Minnesota Duluth, on a spring break history trip, and we were learning as much as we could about civil rights. We saw how Dr. King died that day in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel, 50 years ago this week, and it still haunts us.
You remember hearing the "I Have a Dream" speech. Like us, you may have watched videos in school on Dr. King's birthday. But there was deeper meaning behind Dr. King's presence in Memphis the day he was shot. He wanted the state of Tennessee to give sanitation workers a 10-cents-an-hour pay increase. Ten cents. While that's the equivalent of 73 cents now, the reality remains: He was shot over just 10 cents. He lost his life fighting for justice.
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Dr. King fought for civil rights, and we honor him for that work. Yet many things haven't changed. Look where we are now.
According to Pew Research, Caucasian men out-earn African-Americans and Hispanics and all groups of women. Think of the 10 cents.
We face an all-time high in mass shootings, incidents of police brutality, and public racism.
Pew studies point out that African-Americans long have outnumbered Caucasians in U.S. prisons.
The things MLK fought for more than 30 years ago are still issues now.
It's time to fight for justice in the treatment of fellow human beings. It's time to stop unfair sentencing practices and help our children get an equal education. It's time to end unfair hiring practices and give people living wages.
We also think of how much Dr. King did for justice in this country.
But let's also join together as we take up his unfinished work. Join us in fighting for real justice in Duluth and in the rest of this country.
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As we remember the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King. Jr.'s death, the images still resonate. They still haunt us.
Akosua Jah, Shikha Kambil, and Joel Makori are members of the Black Student Association at the University of Minnesota Duluth. They wrote this exclusively for the News Tribune.
