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Jackson Recalls MLK, Targets Urban Youth

New initiative launched at site of King's final speech

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 4, 2008 11:54 AM CDT

(Newser) – Jesse Jackson was outside the Lorraine Motel when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, 40 years ago today, and the sound of the gunshot still echoes in his memory. Jackson talks with the Chicago Sun-Times about that day, and how race relations have "detoxified" in the ensuing years. But King, he said, would have been distressed that the nation still has "first-class jails, second-class schools."

Last night, Jackson returned to the site of King’s final, prophetic speech, to launch a new campaign to help black urban youth. He was joined by the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said that black people have come a long way since King's time, but curbing violence is necessary to cross the next river. "Lest we stop this killing and self-hate both here and in Africa we can't get there yet," he said.

[Images (2)]

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Jesse Jackson Jr., Martin Luther King Jr., and Ralph Abernathy at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in this April 3, 1968 file photo. King was shot dead on the balcony April 4, 1968. (AP Photo)

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is seen in this undated file photo. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis. (AP Photo/file)

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Jackson Recalls MLK, Targets Urban Youth