Here’s part of a piece that appeared on The Washington Post’s editorial page on April 5, 1968:
Martin Luther King is the victim of a cruel and wanton act that will be deplored from one end of this country to the other. . . . Those who are responsible for this vile deed have killed an unoffending, God-fearing and innocent man of great goodwill; they have also killed something in the spirit and heart of the American people where lived the bright hope for reconciliation between the races. That hope will be resurrected. . . . It is possible to kill men like Martin Luther King, but the ideas for which they stand are not mortal or destructible.
A handful of lawmakers took to Twitter on Monday to pay their respects to King. Here are some of their tributes:

