MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Supporters of the Black Lives Matter and Fight for $15 movements have marched through the streets of downtown Memphis, demanding higher wages and racial equality on the 49th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.
Several hundred people, including a 220-piece marching band from Talladega College in Alabama, marched more than a mile (1.6 kilometers), from City Hall to the National Civil Rights Museum on Tuesday.
They chanted "This is what democracy looks like" and held signs saying "I Am A Man." Some wore T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Show Me $15. Real Change. No Pennies."
The Fight for $15 group wants a higher hourly minimum wage for low-pay workers, including fast food employees and home and child care workers.
The museum is at the site of the former Lorraine Motel. King was standing on the motel's balcony when he was shot down by a sniper's bullet on April 4, 1968. He was in Memphis supporting a sanitation workers strike.