Rev. Martin Luther King: Anti-War, Pro Union

Most Americans today know that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed 40 years ago -- on April 4, 1968 --  in Memphis, Tennessee, but they may not know why he was there. He went to Memphis to support African American garbage workers, who were on strike to protest unsafe conditions, abusive white supervisors, and low wages -- and to gain recognition for their union. The previous year he made a bold and prophetic speech at the Riverside Church in New York against the war in Vietnam, linking the struggle for social justice with the struggle against militarism.   In his last book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, King wrote: "The bombs in Vietnam explode at home; they destroy the hopes and possibilities for a decent America."

If King were alive today, he would surely be speaking out  to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq immediately.  He would be speaking out about the widening gap between the rich and the rest of America.  He'd also be working with unions, clergy, and community groups to raise the federal minimum wage, enact local living wage laws, expand health insurance to all Americans. He'd be helping America's working poor -- hotel workers, janitors, security guards, nurses and other hospital employees, grocery workers, farmworkers, and others -- unionize for better working and living conditions. 

He'd be in Los Angeles this April 14-16 helping lead the March from Hollywood to the Docks, a key part of the campaign for good jobs among LA's diverse labor movement and its allies among community groups and clergy -- an obvious parallel to the Memphis campaign 40 years ago.

No doubt he'd be pushing Congress to adopt the Employee Free Choice Act, the progressive labor law reform that would level the playing field between business and workers and catalyze a new wave of union organizing.   

In an article in the American Prospect today, Kai Wright calls Dr. King a "forgotten radical" and reminds us about his political evolution.

In my article in American Prospect a year ago, I describe King's insistence on building bridges between the civil rights and labor movements.

Two of Dr. King's most stirring and prophetic speeches were his 1967 anti-war sermon at Riverside Church (text here: http://icujp.org/king.shtml; video clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Az0bdbHOI&feature=related) and his final speech in Memphis, the night before he died, to a overflowing crowd of striking garbage workers and their allies (text here: http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm; video clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0whBALnwgQQ).

Peter Dreier