Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is widely known as a civil rights leader, as a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and as a skilled orator. It’s also important to remember that Dr. King’s vision extended beyond racial equality to include organizing for better working and living conditions. In 1961, he denounced “right to work” laws as a scam: “In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone… Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped. Our weapon is our vote.”
Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He was in Tennessee to support the rights of striking union members, sanitation workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Dr. King both delivered his famous “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech and walked the strikers’ picket line the day before he was killed. His struggle to ensure that all Americans are judged by the quality of their character, and not the color of their skin, and his support for union workers is a legacy that continues to inspire and should be remembered as Americans celebrate Black History Month.
Photo: Associated Press