Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Cleveland in 1967 | WEWS Video Vault

Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in Cleveland 1967 WEWS TV The first sound bite is King speaking about what it will take to stop the rioting in America's cities. Carl Stokes was running for mayor of Cleveland and King was in town to get Clevelanders to register to vote. Stokes would beat Mayor Ralph S. Locher in the primary and beat Republican Seth Taft in the November election to make Stokes the first African American mayor of a major U.S city. King met with Taft as Taft spoke for opportunity and equality for all citizens. King talks about Cleveland’s election following Carl Stokes primary victory. You’ll also hear him speak on racial problems in the U.S, as well as how the boycott of Sealtest dairy products in the city is progressing. The boycott was part of Operation Breadbasket which was used to helped inner city African American residents use their buying/boycotting powers to change hiring and business practices. Accompanying King at one speech is legendary Clevelander the Reverend E. T. Caviness of Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church. 5:49 King speaking in a discount store parking lot at East 105th Street and St. Clair Avenue, July 28, 1967: I want to say to everybody under the sound of my voice this afternoon that you are somebody. Don't let anybody make you feel that you are nobody. You are somebody. You have dignity. You have worth. Don't be ashamed of yourself and don't be ashamed of your heritage. Don't be ashamed of your color. Don't be ashamed of your hair. I am black and beautiful and not ashamed to say it." "Every politician respects votes, and we have enough potential voting power here to change anything that needs to be changed. And so let us set out to do it and to do it in no uncertain terms. And finally, I want to say to you that if we will organize like this, we have a power that can change this city." King’s last appearance in Cleveland in our archives is from late November 1967. A few months later, King would be dead, killed by assassin James Earl Ray, April 4, 1968.