Labor Actions Today Remember Martin Luther King Jr. Died at a Picketline

[Omaha Steve]

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/04/labor_actions_today_remember_martin_luther_king_jr/

By Nathan Newman - April 4, 2011, 12:42PM

Today, on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death, unions and their supporters are holding over a 1000 actions "in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin and dozens of other states where corporate politicians are trying to take away our rights" as outlined at the We are One site.

Why the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death?

Because (and I'm going to quote a chunk from a 2006 TPMCafe post on this topic), Martin Luther King Jr. died in Memphis in 1968 during a labor strike, notably one of public workers -- in that case sanitation workers -- demanding their rights (See this site for more on the Memphis strike). This labor legacy of MLK is not often taught in our schools, but it's worth remembering the fact that in his last months, he considered walking a picketline to be the embodiment of his civil rights dreams:

Martin Luther King Jr. had made a strike of public employees in Memphis a centerpiece of his efforts to launch the "Poor Peoples Campaign" of his final year. You can read more details about the strike at this website commemorating the strike, but it's worth understanding that Martin Luther King Jr., even as he rightly criticized the exclusionary rules of some individual unions, always saw a strengthening of unions and labor as critical to achieving long term justice for African Americans.

This wasn't a late epiphany for Martin Luther King Jr. As he said at the AFL-CIO convention in 1961:

By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them...the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature, spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth.--Speaking to the AFL-CIO on Dec. 11, 1961

FULL story at link.

[midnight]

1. We need to see a repeat of raising the living standards of

American workers...

[patrice]

2. Labor is the people and the people are America. Americans should have a right to organize! nt

[1776Forever]

3. Just posted this: Verizon Workers' Strike "Most Important Labor Battle Going on Today"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1771283

It goes right along with this post! Thank you!

[Divine Discontent]

4. K&R