Memphis finally names city street after King

By Adrian Sainz Associated Press | Last updated: Jan 23, 2012 - 11:26:25 AM

A woman waits to cross the street at the corner of Linden Avenue and Main Street on Jan. 11 in Memphis, Tenn. A proposal to rename nine blocks of Linden Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue passed on Jan. 13 when it came before the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board. Dr. King was killed by assassin James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel. Photo: AP Photo/Adrian Sainz

MEMPHIS, Tennessee - In the more than four decades since the Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of Memphis’ Lorraine Motel, about 900 U.S. cities have named local streets for him. Memphis is not one of them, though there is a stretch of expressway bearing his name.

Now Memphis officials have decided to name a key downtown street for the civil rights icon after years of inaction that some say reflects a sense of shame and denial in the city where he was cut down.

The proposal to rename nine blocks of Linden Avenue to Dr. Martin Luther King Avenue passed Jan. 13 when it came before the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board. Dr. King was killed by assassin James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968.

Berlin Boyd, a former city councilman, came up with the proposal earlier this year while still in office and it easily passed. He predicted it would pass the land use board, with a naming ceremony expected to take place on April 4. He was right. The board has final say unless an appeal is filed within 10 days.

The street re-naming is being seen by many Memphians as a symbol that the city is taking steps to heal the wound caused by the assassination.

“It was something that had a place in my heart for some time,” Mr. Boyd told The Associated Press. “Here is a city where Martin Luther King’s blood cries from the streets, and we don’t have anything to pay tribute to him.”

Dr. King came to Memphis to support a sanitation workers’ strike in 1968 in what became his final act as a civil rights leader. The National Civil Rights Museum is built at the site of the former Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King stayed while supporting the sanitation workers. A wreath marks the spot on the balcony where Dr. King was shot.

The Rev. James Netters, who marched with Dr. King and the sanitation workers as a city councilman, said he proposed naming a street for King in the early 1970s, but the City Council voted to dedicate a stretch of Interstate 240 to him instead.

Supporters said renaming Linden Avenue for King is more significant than the dedication of the interstate because the avenue is in the heart of the city’s downtown and residents will have to use the avenue’s name to give directions. They also say that new businesses along it—including two hotels set for construction—will use the King address, giving the street more importance and visibility.

Mr. Netters, 84, said he does not know why another proposal did not appear before now, a sentiment echoed by many others.

“Memphis can’t do enough,” Mr. Netters said. “Any honor that we dedicate to him is very, very critical.”

Mr. Boyd chose Linden Avenue because he saw a sign with the street’s name in a photo taken of a rally led by Dr. King. The avenue runs in front of the Clayborn Temple—where Dr. King rallied with members of the civil rights movement—and the FedExForum, the arena where the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies play their home games.

It runs parallel to Beale Street, the famous Memphis tourist drag, and is near the offices of the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union that Dr. King came to Memphis to defend.

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