In 1968, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. marched in Memphis, Tennessee with over 1,300 sanitation workers on strike over workplace hazards and labor rights following the deaths of two workers. After local police killed a 16-year-old during one of those protests, the National Guard intervened, sending in tanks and troops armed with rifles and bayonets.
King was assassinated in Memphis one week later.
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Over the following decades, the National Guard was again re-deployed to the city in response to other strikes or protests.
Now, in 2025, President Donald Trump has again dispatched National Guard forces to Memphis, this time purportedly to combat crime and safeguard immigration enforcement.
The announcement caused some local residents, who recalled marching with King in the days prior to his assassination, to compare America’s current political moment to the tumultuous events of 1968, a year that witnessed several high-profile political assassinations, strikes and demonstrations around the country for a variety of different causes.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) says he supports the deployment, and that the troops will “play a critical support role” for local law enforcement, according to The Associated Press.
Many municipal leaders, meanwhile, have expressed skepticism about the deployment. “I did not ask for the National Guard and I don’t think it’s the way to drive down crime,” Memphis Mayor Paul Young told reporters.
