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GREENSBORO — Nearly 40 years have passed since Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn. The memory remains fresh for the Rev. Jesse Jackson.


Jackson: Level playing field not accomplished. Agree? Join the discussion at the Debatables blog.


"It never gets far from my mind," Jackson said of the assassination, which he witnessed.


Friday will be the 40th anniversary of King's death.


Jackson, an A&T alumnus, spoke Sunday to a congregation that packed the pews at New Light Baptist Church. Jackson was in town for the weekend inauguration of Bennett College President Julianne Malveaux.


Jackson, 66, recalled that King had reached a moment of crisis in 1968. His opposition to the Vietnam War brought criticism from the media and heavy surveillance from the government. He had broadened his message from civil rights for blacks to economic and social justice — supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis and calling for corporate boycotts and for blacks to take their money out of white-owned banks and other businesses.


Jackson said the controversy and real danger this created for King led him to a moment of doubt he likened to that of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jackson said King gathered supporters, including Jackson, and contemplated quitting.


"He said, 'Maybe I've done as much as I can. Maybe I should become president of Morehouse College and write some books,'" Jackson said. "But then he said, 'We've been here before,' and began to preach himself out of a depression."


King pressed on, and he gave the "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech in Memphis on April 3, 1968 — one day before his death. In the speech, King continued to push for what Jackson called a level economic playing field for blacks — and famously predicted "I may not get there with you."


Jackson said that the United States has come a long way in the 40 years since King's death — but the country still hasn't accomplished King's vision of a level playing field. Jackson returned to college basketball to make that point several times in his sermon.


"When UNC plays the big game, we have our place on the basketball court," Jackson said. "But do we have our place in the classrooms? There is a lot of madness in March, but sadness at graduation time. Why do we succeed on the basketball court but not in the classrooms? When the playing field is even, the rules are public and the goals are clear, we can achieve."


Jackson said blacks cannot be satisfied to succeed at sports but neglect their education.


"If we have just gone from picking cotton balls to picking basketballs and footballs, then we are not free," he said.


One of the biggest problems for black America is self-degradation, Jackson said — the proliferation of guns, liquor and racially offensive rap music that destroys a proud, striving culture King and so many other black leaders died to create.


"We've lost more lives to guns and dope than we did to the rope," Jackson said. "We've killed more of each other than ever got hung."


Jackson called on the crowd to follow through on King's dream by valuing education, building their own businesses and respecting themselves.


"There is nothing more dangerous than a full belly and an empty head," Jackson told the cheering crowd. "Strong minds break strong chains."


Jackson, who made unsuccessful presidential bids in 1984 and 1988, said this year's campaigns helped to show how far America has come. But while many in the audience had cheered when state Rep. Alma Adams spoke in support of Sen. Barack Obama earlier in the morning, Jackson did not endorse him or Sen. Hillary Clinton. Instead, he said both candidates represented the change King had hoped to see in his lifetime.


"You're going to see a change," Jackson said. "It may be Barack, it may be Hillary — but you're going to see a change. You're going to see whites voting for a black, you'll see men voting for a woman. You'll see a change because our marching was not in vain."


Many in the audience said Jackson's sermon was exactly what they needed to hear as the anniversary of King's death approaches.


Bette Dunlop, 42, said she traveled with her two college-age children from Durham to hear Jackson speak Sunday — and she would have come from California.


"This is a man who was there, who saw our struggle and was with Dr. King at the end," Dunlop said. "It's hard for young people to realize how far we've come. They can't remember what it was like, but hearing words like this reminds them that the fight isn't over yet."

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, extension 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com