Today’s output from Blogistan Polytechnic Institute’s state-of-the-art HEMMED (High-Energy Meta Mojo Elucidation Detector) machine starts with a moment of silence.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. As I was aggregating the noontime news for BPI Campus this morning (one of the jobs of the HEMMED lab operators), I came across an article in ThinkProgress reminding us about what Dr. King was doing in Memphis.
I wanted to include that in the news but I could not bear to have any commemoration of Dr. King in the same pixel space as some of today’s news.
So here it is: 43 Years Ago Today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Died Fighting For The Rights Of Public Workers
Today is the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Many Americans know that King was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee — which now hosts a national civil rights museum in honor of King — but what is less known is why King was there in the first place.
On April 3, 1968, King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, where he delivered his famous “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” speech, during which he endorsed a “human rights revolution” based around eradicating racism, poverty, and militarism.
Remembering Dr. King’s words, especially in light of the union struggles underscored in Wisconsin this year, is important. The words remind us that while the rights and privileges of the wealthy and well-connected are never at risk, We The People have to keep fighting not only to gain our rights but to preserve them.
Here are some of his remarks to the Memphis city sanitation workers. Selfishly put here so that I can always find them and listen to them again.
You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth. You are reminding not only Memphis but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people who live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages.
• respect the dignity of labor
• you are engaged in work that serves humanity
• it is a crime for people who live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages
Today’s struggle was his stuggle … 43 years ago:
[On April 4th] thousands of Americans — comprising a new Main Street Movement battling the right-wing assault on the middle class — will take part in over a thousand actions including marches, teach-ins, workplace conversations, and other events to honor King’s last struggle and to carry it on in the battles over collective bargaining rights today
Happy Tuesday to everyone and fist bumps!
The BPI Campus Progressive agenda:
1. People matter more than profits.
2. The earth is our home, not our trash can.
3. We need good government for both #1 and #2.
Return to HEMMED In three days a week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for more output from BPI’s state-of-the-art HEMMED (High-Energy Meta Mojo Elucidation Detector) machine.
You can follow HEMMED In on twitter at JanF at BPICampus.
We are a much poorer nation for not having the oratory and the strength of Dr. Martin Luther King for these past 43 years.
His words still resonate.
Thank you for keeping Dr. King out of the sewage that was yesterday’s ‘news’. He deserves his own Hemmed In for sure. I will return to this video when I need inspiration. King got the income inequality and the dignity of every person so right.
His leadership and inspiration is dearly missed. Unfortunately, the people getting attention in our society at the moment are entertainment celebrities and politicians.
Thank you for this, Jan. A long, long time ago I wrote and directed a play about the life of Dr. King. When he died I was too young to have any direct memories of him. Like many Americans, I came to know him after his death. In researching the play, I read almost all of his published works and listened to all of his speeches. I also read several biographies, including some historical criticism.
Dr. King is one of my heroes. He made mistakes and flaws, like any human being. I don’t say that to diminish him. Pretending our heroes had no flaws neither favors them nor encourages us. I am far more encouraged by those who wrestle with human weakness … and still manage to do heroic things. Dr. King did that.
Dr. King recognized a flaw at our nation’s moral core: we say “all men are created equal,” but we don’t treat everyone equally. Whether race or wealth, sex or orientation, religion or national origin, age or affiliation, we’ve always found and keep finding ways to say some people deserve more opportunities than others. Dr. King recognized the essential sameness – and wrongness – of all privilege.
How fitting that the rallies on the day of his death were themed “We Are One.” That’s what Dr. King fought for, and gave his life for.