City to honor 50th anniversary of MLK’s death

Published 6:14 pm Monday, April 2, 2018

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. wants the city’s police and fire departments to observe the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s death in special way.

Flaggs Monday told Police Chief Milton Moore and Fire Chief Craig Danczyk to have their units activate their sirens for 50 seconds at noon Wednesday “so everyone can know that we honor a legacy, and a man that I thought that made a profound difference in the way we live in society today, Dr. Martin Luther King.

“We will be part of every service in this country that we acknowledge that he lived and is living within everybody,” he said.

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“Some places are doing a bell toll so we are doing sirens,” Flaggs said later. “The 50 seconds represent the number of years it has been since (King’s death) April 4 (1968).”

King, who spoke at Pleasant Green M.B. Church in Vicksburg in 1964, was killed April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city.

In 1964, he received the Nobel Piece Prize at the age of 35, he was the youngest man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to continue the civil rights movement.

About John Surratt

John Surratt is a graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in general studies. He has worked as an editor, reporter and photographer for newspapers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post staff since 2011 and covers city government. He and his wife attend St. Paul Catholic Church and he is a member of the Port City Kiwanis Club.

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