rooted in racism. a lot of people didn't want king in memphis. they felt it was a distraction. >> well, i was one of those that felt that we needed to stick with the poor people's campaign. >> king overruled his staff and flew to memphis to speak to an overflow crowd on the night of march 18th. >> if one black person is down, we are all down. >> he was talking, man, he would set you on fire. >> then we got greedy. what about coming back and leading a march? >> a snowstorm postponed the march planned for the end of the week. king headed for middle alabama instead. that friday night, march 22nd, driving east from los angeles, james earl ray stopped here at this motel in selma, alabama. he registered as eric galt. the motel was just past the edmund pettus bridge, where three years earlier state troopers had attacked civil