"The great civil-rights leader was besieged from all directions that season. Estranged from the White House for his stand against the war in Vietnam. Ridiculed by young blacks who thought him out of touch with the new militancy of guns and separatism. Tormented from within by depression, fatigue and a haunting presentiment of his own death.
In Memphis, death had already come.
Sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker had climbed into the back of one of the old garbage trucks to get out of the rain. But as the vehicle rumbled along, the hydraulic ram that compacted the trash started on its own. Cole and Walker were crushed. Just like garbage.
The men had complained for years about that truck in particular, about raggedy, malfunctioning old trucks in general. The city never listened. Now it gave each man's widow one month's salary — likely less than $300 — added $500 apiece, and called it square. Burial expenses alone were $900 a man.
'They felt a garbage man wasn't nothing,' Nickelberry said. 'And they figured they could treat us any way they wanted to treat us."'
~~Leonard Pitts, Miami Herald~~
As we approach the 40th anniversary of that terrible and tragic day in A-merry-ca's history, let's not forget why Dr. King was in Memphis in the first place. He was there fighting for economic justice for trash collectors in the city of Memphis. Fighting a battle for people who were down trodden, overlooked and spit on by a city, and the white power structure that ran it.
But make no mistake, 40 years later, not much has changed. As I look around my hometown of Philadelphia, I can see the look of despair and hopelessness in the faces of the working poor. Mothers who have to take the bus to the suburbs in order to take care of wealthy old white women and clean up their shit. Or old men who have to work in $7 an hour security guard jobs in the most dangerous parts of our city to supplement their meager social security checks.
So while Tom Brokaw runs around doing the television circuit, and profiting from King's death with his pabulum filled books and television specials. And while we as A-merry-cans stick out our chests because we have our first black Presidential candidate with a shot at winning the big house. Just remember that there is unspeakable shit happening in our cities every day, and it's looking more and more like Dr. King's dream will never be realized.
Oh well, back to the party: "YES WE CAN", "YES WE CAN", YES WE CAN".
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