Time Magazine (Your Own Pages)

Article By: Roger Collins

April 18, 1968

Martin Luther King Jr.

In My Opinion

    It was early Sunday morning when I first met him. I was born on January 1,1938. I had one younger sister and I have one younger brother. My sister's name was Annie Mae Collins and my brother's name is Cole Collins.I had not gone to church that morning because I had to stay in the fields and work with my father. We got the call around 8:00 AM. I had been taking a water break. My mother, Sarah Collins, was on the phone. She said that she and Cole had dropped Annie Mae off and had started to head home when it happened. The church had been bombed, and to this day it is named the Birmingham Church Bombing.I was one of the first people to get to the sight. The other, was Martin Luther King Jr.

    We soon found out that Annie Mae was one of the five girls that was killed. As they carried the 5 bodies out,I happened to be standing across from him. He was watching them like they were his own children." What an amazing man," I thought. One of Annie Mae's shoes fell off as they carried her away. Not one of the policemen bothered to pick it up. I was about to grab the shoe, but someone reached it before me.

   It was about 10:00 PM, and I was in bed reading a magazine and trying not to think about the falling shoe. I didn't even care who took it, and I'm glad that I didn't look up to see who took it. I was trying to tell myself that my sister was not gone forever but it wasn't working. I could hear my mother sobbing in her room and my father, yet crying, but trying to comfort my little brother who was only 4 and had no clue what was going on.

I didn't know what I was doing living in a house when I was 25 years old, so that very second I decided that I was going to live somewhere else, get a job, and most importantly, stay away from my very sad family.I packed my bags and peaked out of my door. It looked like my father had taken Cole to bed. I snuck downstairs and I was about to open the door when our doorbell rang.

    I was looking into his eyes, and I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It was really him, standing at the door, looking at me and holding up the shoe. " Were you planning on going somewhere?" his deep voice said. I shook my head and dropped my bags, too suprised to talk. I could hear my father coming down the stairs saying " Roger, who is at the door?" Before I could speak he said, " It is all right Mr. Collins, I just want to talk to your son." I heard my father close a door, and he motioned me outside.What he said to me brought joy to my eyes. He said stuff the way an angel would say it. He said it better than my family would ever say it. When he was done with what he had to say he handed me the shoe. "How did you find me?"I asked in a raspy voice. "That is for me to know, and you to find out," he said. He winked and started walking down the street.

    Why couldn't I understand how he found my family? I found out two days later. I had thrown the shoe into my closet, not wanting to look at it or touch it. I felt bad for the way that I had treated my sister's shoe, so I took it out of my closet and started to examine it. There on the soul of her shoe was our address. It was very faint handwriting but I could tell it was hers.

    "Amen" I heard my mother say. There was barely anyone in the church. No one came because they were all afraid that the church was going to get bombed like the last one. I was depressed. I felt like an old donkey. This was so boring. That morning, I figured out that we were moving to Atlanta, Georgia. That night we were all packing. I had already packed and was scanning my room for anything that I had left. I looked in my closet and there was the shoe. I didn't want it because I didn't want to think about it. I left the shoe there. Although I didn't know at the time, that shoe was going to become a big part of my life.

   June , 1964

     It was a year after we had moved into our house. It semmed like everyone had gotten over the death of Annie Mae. I hadn't, though. He and I were the only ones that knew about the shoe. Now I was regretting that I had left the shoe there. I was packing my things, and this time I really was moving out. I don't know what went on with me, but as soon as I heard a knock on the door, I was ready to spit everything out. My mother came in. My mother said it would be like Annie Mae leaving us if I left the house. I knew that I had to take this like my greatest hero would. I said, "I have to leave. I am going to buy an apartment near hear, I just don't know anyone my age living with their parents."

     The next day I was kissing my family good-bye and walking out the door. Before I left I pulled my younger brother, Cole, into the other room. I told Cole all about the shoe and told him to tell my parents. I also told him to come by and watch Martin Luther King sometime. 10 minutes later, I was outside waiting for the bus.

     I had been on the bus for about 30 minutes. I was the last person on the bus. It was late, maybe around 9:30. The bus stopped in an unusual neighborhood. Somehow, I recognized it. I decided to get off and take a look around. I was standing right in front of a church. The lights were on so I decided to go inside. The sign in the front said Ebenezer Baptist Church.

     Before I even entered the main sanctuary of the church, I could hear people singing. I walked in and listened. The song seemed familar as well as the two men sitting near the alter. All of the people in the church stopped singing suddenly and sat down. I was still standing. The preacher was coming up to the podium.In shock, I sat down. I looked up. It was him. He was staring at me with his twinkling eyes. He winked at me. I listened to the preacher throughout the whole service. Mr. King Sr. was a very good preacher. When the service was over, I got up to leave. No one else did. It was him again. But this time, it was he who was walking up to the podium. I took my seat. All he talked about was how we were going to be free someday. He also talked about his house being bombed and many other things, like his family being threatened. " But no matter what," he said, "I will keep fighting until the end." With that everyone stood up and started whooping and clapping. From then on, I knew that he and I, were connected.

     I was the last person out of the church. I was closing the door when he motioned me in. His voice was as calm as the wind blowing leaves off the trees in the fall. I was sort of upset about what he was about to ask me. He asked me where the shoe was. All I remember about that, was that it tore me down. Then, he asked, " Why did you leave the shoe at your old house?" I was in something called "more than shock". He had to be an angel of God. How does he know these things. He seemed to read my mind. "My wife, Coretta Scott was visiting your neighborhood and recognized you." He paused. I knew that I had heard enough. She must have come the day after our family left for Atlanta. The "angel" handed me the shoe and said,"We will rise tonight."

      I had no idea what that meant. I was in my apartment when I got the call. It was well after midnight. It was him. He had called me to come to his house. So I went over not knowing that I was about to become the best friend of the most famous person in Civil Rights History. I rang the door bell and a girl answered. "looking for daddy," she said. "he's in the back. That must have been their daughter, Yolanda. He was holding a torn up football when I got back there. I watched him for a while. He kept doing the same thing over and over again. Throwing the ball at the fence and walking over to get it. Finally he said, "Come on over son, let me teach you something." I walked over. "You know how to play football right?" I nodded my head. "Well, in order to play football you have to have a team, right?" I nodded. "And you need a team leader or captain, right?" I nodded. I'm making a team. I'm the team leader and the members of my team are the players. I would like you to become part of my team. I spluttered," But I don't know anything about Civil Rights." "Think back. You probably do."

      He and I gathered our "team" over the years. It was March 1968. We had been like brothers since that night with the football. He taught me everything about Civil Rights. He was like my older brother that I always wanted when I was a kid. We were such good of friends that I even helped him write some of his speeches. My family was much happier. We remembered Annie Mae with happiness instead of sorrow. It was the life...until disaster struck.

      April 4, 1968.... I was in Memphis Tennesse at the same time he was. We were staying in the same hotel. I was on a different floor and on the total oppisite side of the rest of the hotel. I had gone to bed early because I had to get up the next morning. I was almost asleep when I heard gun fire, and many people screaming. I was opening the door and Coretta was there. "He's been shot, they're taking him away now,"she was out of breath. It meant if I wanted to see him for the last time, it had to be now. 

     A few days after the shooting, I was in my hotel room packing my things. Walking out in public was now terrifying for me. I managed to get to the funeral and I felt like I was the saddest person on the planet. But then I remenbered a few things that he had said to me. He said, " I'll keep fighting until the end" He also said," If one player gets hurt, you have to keep playing the game." Later that day, I lead a march right behing the wagon that was carrying his body in it. Behind me people were cheering, not because they were happy that he was dead, but for the great work that he had done. It was the saddest, but yet the best day of my life.

    Today, if you ask me why I said that it was the best day of my life, I will say what I think my greatest hero, Martin Luther King Jr., would say. He would be proud of a great leader and honor them. Now, I am trying to start a business with Coretta.  It should be fun. We are thinking about creating our own "team" to do away with segregation. I am thinking about starting my own magazine called I Have A Dream. That idea reminds me of one of my favorite things he used to say,"We will rise tonight!"

 By: Jessica Pritchard Period 6