It took a bullet to the neck to end a Movement. On April 4, 1968, the Civil Rights Movement ended with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The killing was the last straw. Medgar Evers was shot down in 1963. President John F. Kennedy was shot down that same year. Malcolm X died in 1965. And now, Dr. King was just gunned down.

Negroes nationwide took to the streets. This time, they didn’t dress up in church attire and silent march through downtown Selma. A different kind of protest erupted. Black people took to the streets holding Molotov cocktails (kerosene bottles stuffed with rags) and matches. Many grabbed bricks, knives and guns. They engaged the police. They firebombed businesses and anything that reflected white racism. Over 100 American cities encountered violent disturbances. On the morning of April 4, the greatest, social humanitarian was shot, like a rabid dog. By nightfall, 100,000 blacks attempted to burn the whole country down.

President Lyndon B. Johnson called out 50,000 National Guardsmen. It was the most ever appointed for a civil emergency. Washington, D.C. enforced a dusk to dawn curfew. Capitol Hill sat behind machine gun nests aimed at the building steps. 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was locked down.

A week of anarchy ended with 46 people dead, 4,000 injured, massive arrests and about $500 million dollars in damages. Cities used different methods in battling the riots.

In Chicago, mayor Richard Daley issued a “shoot to kill” order for rioters and a “shoot to maim” order for looters. When it was over, nine people were dead. In Cleveland, a bloody riot in 1967 forced the mayor to have National Guardsmen on full alert. They kept watch over the violent, Hough section. In Philadelphia, any black caught outside curfew was arrested on the spot. TV camera crews filmed the police in action. They filmed plenty of incidents of excessive force.

When the country finally calmed down, President Johnson demanded the F.B.I. to find King’s killer. With Interpol’s assistance, a vagrant named James Earl Ray was caught overseas by Scotland Yard. He had a warrant for conspiracy and interstate flight. He was extraditied and immediately confessed to the murder. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Ray’s capture and conviction didn’t satisfy Negroes. The Voting Rights Act of 1968, that guaranteed everyone a right to vote didn’t satisfy Negroes. What satisfied Negroes was the popularity of black nationalist and other separatist groups. They understood their power struck fear to America’s capitalist regime. F.B.I. director, J. Edgar Hoover declared the Black Panther Party “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States”. That declaration forced the white power struggle to pay attention to them. That attention proved to be the downfall to black nationalism forever.