KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Reverend C.L. Bachus was born and raised in Hernando, Mississippi, about 25 miles from where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
"It was just like all of a sudden he's taken out," Bachus said.
He was about 31 years old, preaching in St. Louis when he heard the news that shocked the world.
"Almost unimaginable that could happen even though everybody knew his life was always on the line," he said.
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A civil rights leader himself during the civil rights movement, Bachus has a vivid memory of growing up in an era of Dr. King.
"Eight miles from where I live — they had that sign that means the Ku Klux Klan was there. I have been in the presence of them," he said.
Bachus met and shook hands with many former presidents and activists, including Dr. King who was a catalyst for the leader he tried to be.
"In 1967, they shot and killed a Black 'fella in jail in Helena, Arkansas, and he was in handcuffs," Bachus said. "We started a boycott and organized the Phillips County movement for equality."
The famous speeches we hear replayed today still stick with him.
"No one can forget the Washington DC speech. I got a dream," Bachus said.
For that dream to fully come to pass, he thinks there's still a long way to go.
"I am not sure if all together as a race we caught his vision. He believed in education, people working, love, integrity and the kind of self-sustaining things that it appears we’ve lost."
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