Folks forget why Dr. King was in Memphis in the first place. It was to march with sanitation workers who were catching hell down in the land of Elvis from the powers that be.
"During a heavy rainstorm in Memphis on February 1, 1968, two black sanitation workers had been crushed to death when the compactor mechanism of the trash truck was accidentally triggered. On the same day in a separate incident also related to the inclement weather, 22 black sewer workers had been sent home without pay while their white supervisors were retained for the day with pay. About two weeks later, on February 12, more than 1,100 of a possible 1,300 black sanitation workers began a strike for job safety, better wages and benefits, and union recognition. Mayor Henry Loeb, unsympathetic to most of the workers' demands, was especially opposed to the union. Black and white civic groups in Memphis tried to resolve the conflict, but the mayor held fast to his position.
As the strike lengthened, support for the strikers within the black community of Memphis grew. Organizations such as COME (Community on the Move for Equality) established food and clothing banks in churches, took up collections for strikers to meet rent and mortgages, and recruited marchers for frequent demonstrations. King's participation in forming a city-wide boycott to support the striking workers was invited by the Reverend James Lawson, pastor of the Centenary Methodist Church in Memphis and an adviser to the strikers. Lawson was a seasoned veteran of the civil rights movement and an experienced trainer of activists in the philosophy and methods of nonviolent resistance."
It was in this environment that King found himself ready to march for economic justice in Memphis before losing his life to a sniper's bullet.
In light of the recent Supreme Court decision, and the growing wealth inequality in this country, Americans would do well to remember what folks like Dr. King fought for. It wasn't only about civil rights and social justice; it was about economic justice as well.
There are quite a few poor Americans in this country who still don't get it. They really believe that the haves will look out for them, and that somehow, if they align themselves with the 1%, their wealth will miraculously find itself into their pockets. It will not. Wealthy people are greedy; it's how they became wealthy in the first place.
There is a political party in this country whose job it is to protect the wealthy and to maintain the status quo of wealth inequality. If you want to know the name of that party look at the budget being proposed by one Paul Ryan. That will tell you all you need to know about who is being protected by certain people in Washington. "Raise the minimum wage? Why should we? That's bad for business." "Let's cut food stamps and unemployment benefits. All that stuff just encourages laziness."
If MLK was around today he wouldn't be happy with what is going on in America. He would feel that all the hard work and organizing he did was for nothing. Because while people of color have achieved civil rights, poor people ---of all colors--- have gained little economic rights. We have moved backwards as a country when it comes to the issue of economic justice.
Sadly, this is just how some people want it.
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