Martine Luther King Jr. was being celebrated and honored in Florida this week at the Memorial Park in Northwest Miami-Dade and many people were gathered there to pay their respects. A disturbing video showing raw footage of the incident is not very long. It does not take long to shoot eight people - but it is a very disturbing video.
Martin Luther was shot and killed on April 4, 1968
In a horrible parody of the death of Martin Luther King Jr, shots rang out and blood was visited upon to the Civil Rights Movement. Here, the similarity between the shooting of eight people and Martin ends.
King was reconciled to the fact that he might be an assassination target. In fact, the Washington Afro-American wrote that King had accurately predicted his own death when he said after the death of John F. Kennedy to his wife Coretta, "This is what is going to happen to me also. I keep telling you, this is a sick society."
He was absolutely right that "this is a sick society." It was then, and it is now because five young people and three adults nearly lost their lives for just being there. Some of them are fighting for their lives - for the crime of simply being alive and in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were not extremist, they were not causing any trouble, they were not shouting from lecterns or publically saying anything that might have incited hatred - but just like Martin Luther - they were shot anyway.
Martin died - and some of these innocent people may yet lose their battle for life.
Celebration of Dr. King's life of peace is shattered by the cowardly and indiscriminate shooting of the innocent in our community. #Enough
— Alberto M. Carvalho (@MiamiSup) January 16, 2017
Watch the raw footage video of the incident in Florida
When you watch the raw footage you see two young men.
They look just like any young men out for the day, having fun, flipping the finger at the camera. This is what young men do when they are out and about. In the background, there are people walking around, as you do after a parade. Then the shots rang out. From smiling young men, the two people having a fun day instantly became two humans in mortal danger of their lives and they ran.
The aftermath shows a woman being helped to a table for attention, kids are around and everyone is in shock. This is disturbing footage because of the ordinary things that were going on. People were pushing the elderly along, kids were running helter-skelter, young guys were hanging with friends and now there is pain, fear, and dark thoughts.
The New York Daily News reported that "A motive behind the shooting and if other suspects remain at large are unclear." While there were other things happening that day, Police have not suggested that the Pan-African & Caribbean Family Festival was connected to the shooting. Suspects and weapons were taken into custody. The tragedy is the Martin Luther King Jr. encouraged nonviolent protest and there was no violence at the parade until the shots rang out.
