CLEVELAND, January 16 – The following statement by BLET President Don M. Hahs is in honor of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“Today, the nation comes together to celebrate the legacy and contributions of a man who, through his words and actions, impacted the course of our nation’s history. As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, Americans across the country will celebrate by honoring the life and work of Dr. King, and working towards the goals which he did not achieve in his too-brief life.
“The life and legacy of Dr. King are inexorably intertwined with both the labor and the civil rights movement. There are many parallels between the labor and civil rights movements. Dr. King recognized that social justice could not exist without economic justice and worked with the labor movement to bring about both for all people. It is telling that on the night of his death, he had been organizing a protest march in support of striking workers.
“Before the advent of the civil rights movement, African Americans in this country were routinely disenfranchised — unable to vote or sit on juries; they could not sit at lunch counters; and they could not sit on buses. They could not get many jobs and the jobs they could get were the ones that no one else wanted. Discrimination was pervasive and routine. The civil rights movement swept many of these injustices away, but not all.
“Unfortunately, in our nation, discrimination and injustice still exist. In both mundane and spectacular ways, we see both everyday in this country. Workers are still discriminated against, in spite laws making it illegal. The poor are still denied access to services. Women are paid less than men as a matter of routine.
“The civil rights movement, unfortunately, could not eliminate all forms of discrimination and injustice, but there are still brave men and women who are working, just as Dr. King did, to end inequality in this country.
“These men and women believe in what Dr. King wrote in his letter from Birmingham Jail that ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’
“In his commitment to social and economic justice, Dr. King envisioned a nation in which all men and women could share the bounties of America and enjoy the opportunity to turn their dreams into reality.
“And we must continue to work on this mission by working towards the elimination of all forms of poverty, racism and discrimination in our society. The labor movement must continue its legacy of civil rights activism. Men and women must still speak up against injustice. In this way, we will honor the legacy left to us by Dr. King.”