King’s son joins labor leader in Memphis
Pair involved in fight against poverty
For the 45th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week, his son, Martin Luther King III, and Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, said they returned to Memphis to resume the work of Dr. King.
“We thought it was important to come back to Memphis and rededicate ourselves to the dream,” said Saunders, who will be part of a panel discussion Wednesday at Mason Temple, the church where King spoke before his death. He will be among speakers Thursday in a 10 a.m. rally followed by a panel discussion on “Labor Unions: Then and Now” at the National Civil Rights Museum.
“It’s powerful symbolism that Martin Luther King III would join us, especially understanding that this city offers a personal tragedy to him,” said Chad Johnson, executive director of AFSCME Local 1733. “On April 4, 1968, the world lost a powerful leader. He (King III) lost a father.”
They spoke Monday i n an editorial board meeting of The Commercial Appeal, where Saunders said that Dr. King “understood the importance of linking the civil rights movement to labor. Ironically we’re still facing the kind of struggle that we faced in 1968.”
King said it’s “wonderful that we’ve made progress, but what is tragic is that we must re-engage. Labor is under attack. It seems to me we have imbalance in this country.” It is becoming a struggle “for average Americans trying to send their families to school, to have health benefits and to have a pension.” Saunders and King said the gap between rich and poor is growing every day with numbers living in poverty growing from about 23 million in the 1960s to about 60 million now. “We have a wage gap greater than the pharaohs and the people,” Johnson said.
Saunders called the economic gap part of a “power play by the 1 percent” and the rest of the world. He and King said the world seems to be recognizing the plight of the underpaid and the threat of a bleak future unless they begin to fight back. “There’s no magic pill to make people work together,” King said. “It really goes back to organizing, block by block.”
King said it is too early to tell, but he expects social media will play a role. It has helped people to communicate. “I have no idea where it’s going next, but I believe there’s a consciousness that’s beginning to change the world.”