Remembering Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sun Apr 6 10:28:07 CDT 2008

From: "Peter Dreier" <dreier at oxy.edu>

Most Americans today know that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed 40 
years ago -- on April 4, 1968 --  in Memphis, Tennessee, but they may 
not know why he was there. He went to Memphis to support African 
American garbage workers, who were on strike to protest unsafe 
conditions, abusive white supervisors, and low wages -- and to gain 
recognition for their union. The previous year he made a bold and 
prophetic speech at the Riverside Church in New York against the war in 
VietNam, linking the struggle for social justice with the struggle 
against militarism.   In his last book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos 
or Community?, King wrote: "The bombs in Vietnam explode at home; they 
destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America."

If King were alive today, he would surely be speaking out  to bring U.S. 
troops home from Iraq immediately.  He would be speaking out about the 
widening gap between the rich and the rest of America.  He'd also be 
working with unions, clergy, and community groups to raise the federal 
minimum wage, enact local living wage laws, expand health insurance to 
all Americans. He'd be helping America's working poor -- hotel workers, 
janitors, security guards, nurses and other hospital employees, grocery 
workers, farmworkers, and others -- unionize for better working and 
living conditions.  

He'd be in Los Angeles this April 14-16 helping lead the March from 
Hollywood to the Docks, a key part of the campaign for good jobs among 
LA's diverse labor movement and its allies among community groups and 
clergy -- an obvious parallel to the Memphis campaign 40 years ago. 
http://www.launionaflcio.org/fullstory/2008-02-29/The-March-from-br-Hollywood-to-the-Docks-/?PHPSESSID=c2e9639e79e0f1f336ee24bc5d0dcb47

No doubt he'd be pushing Congress to adopt the Employee Free Choice Act, 
the progressive labor law reform that would level the playing field 
between business and workers and catalyze a new wave of union 
organizing.   
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2007/05/10/labor_law_reform_not_just_for_unions.php
In an article in the American Prospect today, Kai Wright calls Dr. King 
a "forgotten radical" and reminds us about his political evolution:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=dr_king_forgotten_radical

In my article in American Prospect a year ago, I describe King's 
insistence on building bridges between the civil rights and labor 
movements: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=12380

Two of Dr. King's most stirring and prophetic speeches were his 1967 
anti-war sermon at Riverside Church (text here: 
http://icujp.org/king.shtml; video clip here: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Az0bdbHOI&feature=related) and his 
final speech in Memphis, the night before he died, to a overflowing 
crowd of striking garbage workers and their allies (text here: 
http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm; video clip here: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0whBALnwgQQ).

Peter Dreier

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Dreier
Dr. E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics
Chair, Urban & Environmental Policy Program
Occidental College
1600 Campus Road
Los Angeles, CA 90041
Phone: (323) 259-2913
FAX: (323) 259-2734
Website: http://employees.oxy.edu/dreier

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great 
moral crises maintain their neutrality" - Dante