This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis. He had come here pursuant to the Sanitation Workers Strike in 1968 which was precipitated by poor working conditions and defective equipment. Equipment which had claimed the lives of 2 men.
They were making a statement that needed to be made, they were, and are MEN, and should be treated as such. There have been tremendous strides made in the area of Civil Rights. We have a black man running for President this year, black men are serving in public office all across the south. These are places that used to post signs telling blacks not to let the sun go down on them in this town. A lot has changed.
Strangely enough, there are still people working here in Memphis for the Sanitation department who were working there 40 years ago when the strike took place. The thing is, they can’t afford to quit. There is no city pension plan for these workers. The very workers Dr. King came and died to support decided at the time that they would take a lump sum bonus at the time rather than take part in the city’s pension plan.
These men sacrificed their future, on the altar of the immediate and are still paying the price for it. Hopefully, the city will be able to work a plan to allow new workers to participate in the City’s plan, but it is too late for those who marched in 1968, it is too late for Dr. King.
