Reflecting on MLK’s legacy: Big Island residents remember assassination

KAILUA-KONA — Exactly 50 years ago, Dick Hershberger was on a cross-country train ride from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh when he learned that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

The train stopped in St. Louis where the startling news broke.

“I was a real fan of Dr. King. I had read his book right before (the assassination), ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ I remember the message of Dr. King trying to elevate people to the same level of equality,” Hershberger said.

Having marched in civil rights demonstrations in New York, he felt at a loss to express himself about King’s death.

“I was quite moved that he was no longer with us,” the Ocean View resident remembered.

Hershberger’s train sped through urban areas where riots ensued after the assassination. From the train window, Hershberger saw rampant fires raging.

“I almost felt like I wanted to be part of the activity that was happening but I knew that really wasn’t what Dr. King wanted,” reflected Hershberger. “He wanted people to carry on his legacy of peaceful resistance within the system and to live your life as an example of what you want to see.”

The staggering impact of the April 4, 1968, assassination reverberated across the pacific to the Big Island, where Larry Johnson was visiting at the time.

Johnson heard about the assassination on TV. He lived in Los Angeles and had planned to return home in a couple days, until he learned of the violent riots.

“I said I’m not flying to L.A. … I felt bad about it. When you live in that area and people are getting killed, it was crazy … it was freaky,” said Johnson.

Also frightening was the perpetuation of inequity that still followed the assassination.

Jesse Fair, born and raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi, lived the discrimination that Dr. King fought against.

“It was rough,” said Fair, who now lives in Hualali Elderly housing in Kailua-Kona. “I was exposed to a lot of violence, so that’s what made me love Martin Luther. I didn’t want that violence. … Without nonviolence, a lot of (the civil rights movement) wouldn’t have survived.”

Fair participated in lunch counter sit-ins, sitting on the white side of restaurants to protest segregation. As a young teenager, he even saw King Jr. speak.

“We saw Martin Luther King at the church right across from where I lived and he made a speech there,” he said. “Everybody loved Martin Luther. … He wasn’t shy about the way (he carried himself).”

Although King made great strides in his lifetime, race-related progress after his death was, and is, still unfinished business.

The same year as the assassination, Fair left for the Vietnam War, where he witnessed a disheartening continuation of racial prejudice.

“You had (soldiers) carrying Confederate flags. And I think that hurt my feelings, I was thinking we were all going to be together, but we still had that element. We still have that element nowadays, with white supremacy,” he said.

In light of current racial discrimination, Hershberger said that King’s progress is being lost.

“I feel there’s a reversal. The movement was made, we’re reversing that movement. It disheartens me,” he said.

But co-founder of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee, Virginia Halliday said she still feels the profound impact of King’s work.

“There is still racial discrimination, but I think we’ve made long strides,” she said.

Halliday was born and raised in the South.

“Of course buses were segregated,” she remembered. “As a black person, you had to relinquish your seats to white men, so when Martin Luther King joined with Rosa Parks, I was thrilled.”

Halliday co-founded the local committee with Mamie Bramlett and the late Frank Bramlett. The group annually celebrates King’s birthday.

She hopes to spread King’s legacy with the community, particularly with “people who weren’t alive when Dr. King walked the Earth,” she said.

To educate younger generations about King’s work, the committee has gotten the schools involved. Students participate in the celebration by doing artwork, singing, dancing and putting on skits.

“It’s really grown with school participation,” she said.

“King was a Trojan for all people,” she added. “I think he would’ve liked to see us move more toward peace and harmony. … I feel that he would still have hope that America would somehow end the discrimination and the political fighting and verbal fighting that’s going on.”