This Day in Labor History: April 4, 1968
On this date in 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray while in Memphis to support a strike by the city’s sanitation workers.
In the spring of 1968, Martin Luther King was organizing his Poor People’s Campaign. Hoping to bring attention to the plight of the impoverished around the country, unite people across racial boundaries, directly challenge the Johnson Administration for acting too slowly on poverty, and move the civil rights movement ahead, King’s campaign showed a great deal of forward thinking. At the same time, sanitation workers in Memphis went on strike. On February 1, 1968, two workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death by a garbage truck. Frustrated by the city’s continued discrimination against them, the all-black workforce walked off the job on February 12. These workers, affiliated with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) demanded union recognition, better safety standards, and higher wages.
The sanitation workers had struck before, in 1966, but the strike had failed in the face of indifference from the city’s sizable middle-class black community. But in 1968, the deaths of Cole and Walker combined with the racist mayor of Memphis, Henry Loeb, who had alienated the city’s African-American community in many ways. Among other things, Loeb refused to take dilapidated trucks out of commission, endangered the lives of workers. This time, the city’s chapter of the NAACP came out in support. On February 22, following a sit-in, the City Council voted to recognize the union and increase wages. This would have ended the strike but Loeb vetoed it on the principle of not recognizing public sector unions.
The next day, February 23, Loeb ordered police to tear gas nonviolent protestors marching to city hall and the nation turned its attention to Memphis. National civil rights leaders, including Bayard Rustin, Roy Wilkins, and James Lawson all came to Memphis to support the workers. Martin Luther King arrived on March 18, telling workers “You are demonstrating that we can stick together. You are demonstrating that we are all tied in a single garment of destiny, and that if one black person suffers, if one black person is down, we are all down.” On March 28, King returned to lead a mass march, but the crowd was angry and turning violent. King was whisked out of the protest as looting began. Police shot and killed a 16 year old protestor that day. Loeb declared martial law, but the next day, 200 workers continued to protest with their iconic signs reading “I AM A MAN.”
King didn’t really want to return to Memphis. He was upset by what happened during the mass march. Moreover, he felt the movement had slipped away from him, with young people embracing violence that he hoped to avoid. Nonetheless, King felt that if his nonviolent movement for economic justice was to succeed, winning a victory in Memphis was absolutely necessary. On April 3, King arrived in Memphis. That night, he gave his final speech.
The next day, James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel.
In the aftermath of King’s death, pressure rained down from both above and below on Loeb to settle the strike. He refused, but Lyndon Johnson sent his Undersecretary of Labor to see this through. On April 8, the city came to an agreement to recognize the union and pay a higher wage, though it had to continue pressuring the city once the cameras left to live up to the agreement.
The Poor Person’s Campaign went on without King, but lacked leadership and vision and faded quickly. More on that in a future post.
Here’s a video produced by AFSCME remembering the strike. I don’t have a date, but I’m guessing this was done in around 1980.
This series has also featured such events as the Triangle Fire of 1911 and the Oakland General Strike of 1946.
Too bad liberals today judge people by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character.
Too bad conservatives today are only capable of remembering that one single sentence.
So is affirmative action judging someone by the content of their character, or the color of their skin?
It’s not judging someone at all. It’s providing a corrective for historical and cognitive biases, and trying to create the feedback loop where when you have more women/people of color at your school/company, it’s easier to recruit strong women/people of color, a talent pool that you might otherwise be missing out on.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
I expect that the point of this quote to this subthread will be something you simply fail to grasp.
Affirmative action is the understanding that since many people are unable to judge someone by the content of their character, only the color of their skin, an offsetting force needs to press back against it.
Ohhh? White people are incapable of judging character?
No, just the dumb ones. But I can see why you might think (and I use that term loosely) that ReinWeiss was referring to you.
What about blacks that are unable to judge character?
What about trolls who hijack threads in order to nurse their petty grievances and resentments?
Well, if there were a history of white people being systemically discriminated against and oppressed by black people, we would have affirmative action for white people. But last I checked, that situation did not, does not, and never has, obtained.
And of course that hypothetical just proves the point that color is a really fucking stupid thing to discriminate over. Not that there are good reasons to discriminate against people, mind.
Yup, color is a stupid thing to base discrimination on. Which is why affirmative action is wrong.
Glad we agree.
I feel like I’m debating a five year old.
Isn’t “affirmative action” just a pretty name for discriminating based on color?
And five year old? Dude, I’m not the one with a cartoon character as my avatar.
I feel like I’m debating a five year old.
Well, when you get down to it, our troll’s output can pretty much be summed up as “NO FAAAAAAAAAAAIR!” So I can see your point.
I feel like I’m debating a five year old.
That is an insult to five year olds.
At the point where the troll proves it’s not even reading it’s pretty much time to pack it in.
“Whenever the issue of compensatory treatment for the Negro is raised, some of our friends recoil in horror. The Negro should be granted equality, they agree; but he should ask nothing more. On the surface, this appears reasonable, but it is not realistic.” – Martin Luther King
“A society that has done something special against the Negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the Negro” – Martin Luther King
There are those who support racial equality and oppose discrimination, like Martin Luther King. Arrayed against them are opponents of affirmative action, like David Duke.
Anon, sweetie, do you want to be judged on your character? I’m not sure that would end well for you.
So far as I can judge by his posts, there is nothing to judge.
There is no content nor character to be judged here.
So why is it the people who are most against affirmative action are the ones who most regret the existence of Martin Luther King?
+$$$
The NAACP and Planned Parenthood thank Anonymous for his generous contributions!
wait I thought it went to LGM Grumpy Troll Beer Fest 2012, where they go to Wisconsin and drink Spetznas all day
http://www.thegrumpytroll.com/ourbeer.html
+$$$
I’ve always felt that it’s the last few years of King’s career- when he had the courage to alienate many of his erstwhile supporters by openly condemning the Vietnam War and taking on economic injustice- that reveal his true greatness. It is this country’s irreparable loss that he paid for this with his life.
Too true. And Erik is doing a service by pointing this out. The narrative of King as cuddly kumbaya-singer (cf. troll upthread) needs to be pushed back against at every opportunity.
Teddy Bear Martin Luther King traveled around the country giving speeches full of patriotic imagery and telling black people not to be violent.
Conservatives love Teddy Bear Martin Luther King.
Teddy Bear Martin Luther King
I keep forgetting to steal this line when I talk about the one speech King gave, which was one sentence long. But I do in fact plan on stealing this line.
“If Sonia Sotomayor is so great, how come she only ever said one thing in her whole life?”
–Jim Henley
Less than a sentence.
The complete sentence makes it clear that men being judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, is a dream that we need to work, to change our society, in order to realize.
Context has a distinct liberal bias.
Yep.
I wonder how MLK would say if he could see what has happened to his legacy today. The fact that he is remembered as a milquetoast proponent of formal, legalese equity, and that the racists he was speaking out against now claim that MLK today would be one of their own. Or the fact that these same racists now use a single sentence in a single speech to define his entire legacy. It’s sad but expected.
I do my best to tell as many impressionable school children as possible that Rosa Parks was not just a seamstress whose feet were tired, but a dedicated activist working with the NAACP and carrying out a carefully-planned direct action.
Because change takes effort, and planning, and deliberate confrontation. Not just folks bein’ nice and stuff.
The problem with that approach is that there is a substantial part of the population that actively rejects the legitimacy of deliberate “test cases.”
It says something that even racists try to claim King as one of their own. They feel the need to pretend not to be racists, either to avoid public scorn or to keep their own consciences quiet.
One of the most shocking things about the past few years is that increasingly they don’t feel the need to pretend. Respect for pseudo-King is one of the last vestiges of that need. He’s the one black leader they feel they shouldn’t hate.
Cornell West has warned against the “Santa Clausificiation” of MLK.
One of the biggest promoters of Teddy Bear MLK is his niece, last seen opining at the Daily Caller that MLK wouldn’t be so crass as to Play The Race Card Trayvon Martin.
^Me.
The race card was played the moment a teenager was shot for “walking while black”.
Just remember, complaining about complaints of racism doesn’t negate its existence. Complaining about “playing the race card” is not the same as denying one is being racist.
Its just a whiny admission one is being a racist but just doesn’t want to hear it out loud.
but that’s what the right wing first amendment is all about, the government shall make no laws abridging the freedom of speech and one’s ability to not have to hear how stupid one’s speech was.
King realized that workers rights are civil rights and that poverty is a civil rights issue. He fought for the day when all men were judged and succeeded in life based on their character and accomplishments, rather than the circumstances of their births.
I think this is unfair to King (notwithstanding the correct point that his last few years were awesome; his last book, “Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?”, is simply tremendous; it’s awesome that it has been rereleased). Consider:
Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963. He was never afraid to alienate supporters if the “supporters” were wrong.
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I have loved that line and paraphrased it frequently since I first read it when I was 14 or 15. MLK certainly has more politically important lines, but that line is my favorite.
And, to add, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” is, on the whole, fantastic. All high school students in this country should read it.
I used to teach it in my intro to philosophy class as part of a trio on CD, Socrates (the Crito), Thoreau (Civil Disobedience), and King (Letter). Lots of good interplay there. That all three acted on their arguments makes it all the more interesting.
(Note I don’t teach it anymore because I don’t teach philosophy anymore!)
Obama by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
A shout out to Jerry Wurf of AFSCME, an associate of King’s, one of the very few visionaries ever to lead a national union and a consistent and vocal supporter of civil rights. (Apparently there’s a biography that I need to track down, if only to confirm or deny the legends I’ve heard.)
There is a Jerry Wurf Scholarship fund at the “Labor and Worklife Program” at Harvard University’s Law School. Recipients of the Wurf Scholarship are included in each session of the Trade Union Program and the program’s Director; Dr. Elaine Bernard; incorporates a good deal of Labor History into the Program.
Eric, if you don’t already know her – you should get acquainted.
She spoke at an event I helped organize about a decade ago.
Farley Trollkiller, Farley Threadgutter, we have need of you now.
A tidbit that I’ve only seen mentioned in couple places: the two sanitation workers were crushed by the garbage truck because it was raining and they’d taken shelter in the truck. Blacks weren’t allowed in the buildings of the sanitation department; those were reserved for the white supervisors.
Starting April 4th, 1968 and throughout the summer, some of the worst riots in American history raged in 130 cities across the country. It’s something that’s too often unmentioned when King’s assassination is discussed.
Especially given the attacks on public sector workers and their unions in the last year or so, it is very good to remind folks of why King was in Memphis.
“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as right to work. 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.”
+1
+10,0000
Well, I meant a “1″ that was worth 10,000.
IMO, it was inevitable that MLK would be made
Safe for mass consumption after he was killed.
Most people aren’t really that obsessed about history
and prefer to digest it in simple narratives. This
is especially true with conservatives but people
on the left can be like this to. People want simple
heroes and villains and most schools are happy
to give them to the people.
I know how he feels, trust me.
Pah, another longhaired hippie socialist fag. Nail ‘em up, I say
Actually, Jesus probably had short hair. Most Jewish men of his time wore their hair short.
Kids, let me tell you about another so-called “wicked” guy. He had long hair nd some wild ideas. He didn’t always do what other people thought was right. And that man’s name was . . . I forget. But the point is . . . I forget that, too. Marge, you know what I’m talking about. He used to drive that blue car?
No matter how many times I hear it, that final speech – the fact of it being his final speech – never fails to just hit me so hard. I know it’s not a new observation, but the words of it…I mean, talk about foreshadowing.
Somewhat off-topic, but in case any Boston-area people are interested: Rabble rouser: Mother Jones comes to Peabody.
[...] series has also covered events including the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968 and the beating of the women and children in Lawrence, Massachusetts in [...]
[...] women and children at Lawrence March 25, 1911–Triangle Shirtwaist Fire April 4, 1968–Assassination of Martin Luther King during sanitation strike in Memphis April 20, 1914–Ludlow Massacre April 30, 1894–Coxey’s Army May 4, [...]