The myth about the aftermath of Martin Luther King's assassination

After the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated 50 years ago this week, cities erupted. The uprisings were an expression of the deep sorrow that followed King's death. But they were also a response to municipal laws and local practices that had created the conditions he challenged. While some assume otherwise, it wasn't the urban unrest of the 1960s that caused the decline of city neighbourhoods. Rather it was decades of unjust local decisions concerning housing, zoning and labour policies.