Candidates plan events to honor death of Dr. King

Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968.

To honor Dr. King, Sen. Clinton released a video on her web site that spoke about the significance of the civil rights leader's legacy to the issues of today. "On this solemn occasion, my thoughts and prayers are with Dr. King's family," she said. "Americans all across our great country and people around the world have been inspired to achieve great things because of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., because of his teachings and because of his life," she said. Clinton also said she remembered seeing Dr. King speak in Chicago as a young girl.

Sen. Obama plans to acknowledge the significance of the day at his campaign event, said the campaign's Indiana spokesman Kevin Griffis, who noted that a speech given by Kennedy that day in Indiana was "widely credited with averting violence" in some places after King's death. (See the video.)

Shortly after landing in Indiana for campaign stop, presidential candidate Robert Kennedy broke the news to a predominantly African American audience in Indiana. "For those of you who are black," he said, "considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge."

Kennedy told the crowd that the nation could move toward "greater polarization" or "we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love."

The city of Memphis plans a series of events to commemorate the day and to honor the life of Dr. King. Events are also planned in Atlanta, where Dr. King lived.