THE PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS (POP)
PO BOX 22505
NEWARK, NJ 07101
973 801-0001
CONTACT: LAWRENCE HAMM
APRIL 7, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE
HAMM JOURNEYS TO HISTORIC SITE OF MARTIN LUTHER KING ASSASSINATION ON 58TH ANNIVERSARY
People’s Organization For Progress chairman Lawrence Hamm visited the site where Dr Martin Luther King Jr was shot and killed on the anniversary of his assassination.
Hamm flew to Memphis, Tennessee on Saturday April 4th, the 58th anniversary of King’s assassination, to participate in a commemoration of the life of the slain civil rights leader.
That event took place at the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum is located at the Lorraine Motel where King was shot and killed. This was Hamm’s first trip to the museum and to Memphis.
“I count myself fortunate to have been able to go on this trip. It was a privilege to do so. It enabled me to connect to one of the major historical events of our lifetime,” Hamm stated.
“The People’s Organization For Progress sent me to Memphis to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to civil rights and human rights, ideals for which Dr King fought and died,” Hamm said.
“While I was there as an organizational representative this was something that I have wanted to do personally for decades. This was as much a spiritual journey as it was practical” he said.
King had come to Memphis to demonstrate his solidarity and lead marches in support of the city’s 1300 striking sanitation workers who were trying to organize a union and negotiate for higher wages and safer working conditions.
He was assassinated on April 4, 1968. King was shot at 6:01pm while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel. He was pronounced dead at 7:05pm at St Joseph Hospital.
“Within a short time of my arrival in Memphis I was standing in front of the Lorraine Motel downstairs from the balcony of Room 306.
“This was where Dr King was shot down by the assassin. For a moment I almost couldn’t believe I was standing there,” he said.
Hamm said in the museum he was able to go up to Room 306 and see it as it looked when Dr King was there. And he could look out the window on to the balcony where he was killed.
“I tried to hold back the tears. I could not. I looked at the balcony. I wanted to reach back in time and pull Dr King off of that balcony and back inside,” he said.
He said nearly six decades after King’s murder the U.S. is once again at a crossroads.
President Trump and his racist and fascist movement, including his supporters in Congress and on the Supreme Court are trying to eliminate everything King and the civil rights Movement achieved.
“I left Memphis inspired and more determined than ever before to continue the struggle for equality, justice, prosperity and peace. They want to drag us back but we are not going back without a fight,” he said.
For more information contact the People’s Organization For Progress (POP) at 973 801-0001.
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