After national civil rights legislation had passed in 1964 and 1965, energy continued among African Americans to push for social changes. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had for years had an office in the Parkland neighborhood, which had an African-American majority population. In Louisville, as in other cities, there was a political struggle between the NAACP and more militant activists associated with Black Power. The latter's attempt to organize people was one of the catalysts for the riot. In addition, feelings were raw because Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated less than two months before. On May 27, 1968, a group of 400 mostly African-Americans gathered for a protest in Parkland. They opposed possible reinstatement of a white officer involved in an incident where physical conflict had occurred in the arrest of two African-American men. The group was organized by the Black Unity League of Kentucky, known as BULK. BULK had announced that activist Stokely Carmichael was to come to Louisville to speak, but he had no such plans. When the crowd gathered, speakers spread rumors that Carmichael's plane had been purposely delayed; protesters got angry, and a disturbance began.