Nearly 50 years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, his protégé Jesse Jackson ticks off a list of the many ways in which the civil rights leader’s push for people to reach what he called the “mountaintop” — a final plateau of racial and economic harmony — continues to be a struggle.

Jackson, who was with King in Memphis to press for fair wages for the city’s sanitation workers on the day of the killing, notes all these years later, more than half of African-American workers earn less than $15 an hour — and income inequality in America has ballooned.

White supremacists, Jackson said, are boldly and more frequently espousing their racist views in the aftermath of President Trump taking office.

On Wednesday, the nation marks 50 years since King was shot on April 4, 1968, as he stood on his balcony at Memphis’ Lorraine Motel — a dark moment in American history that triggered riots and violence in more than 100 U.S. cities.

In Memphis, civil rights leaders will commemorate King’s legacy with a march through the city. In Washington, the National Council of Churches will hold a rally on the National Mall they say will be the starting point of a multi-year effort with the lofty goal of eradicating racism and bringing the country together. Smaller memorials honoring King are scheduled throughout the country.

But the solemn milestone also is being observed as the nation finds itself wading through choppy waters  in race relations.

The highly charged confrontations between police and black men have affected Americans’ view on race in America, polls show.

For much of the past two decades, race relations  has been the issue that Americans say they have been least worried about, according to the polling firm Gallup. The question hit a nadir for American anxiety in 2010 as President Obama — the nation’s first black president — settled into his first White House term: Just 13% of Americans said they were greatly concerned.

Jackson said that if King were alive today he would see a ray of hope amid the uncertainty in the diverse group of young people who organized last month’s March for Our Lives rallies against gun violence in Washington and across the USA.

“There is unfinished business, but my hope is that America has become disgusted with this attempt to go backward,” Jackson said. “The Trump foray … is a temporary season. There is a tug of war for the soul of America. Should we move forward by hope and healing or backward by hurt and hate? I think hope and healing will win.”