Economic justice battle continues

Thursday, 6:01 p.m., will mark 45 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated as he stood on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Downtown Memphis.

The famed civil rights warrior had come to Memphis to help 1,300 striking sanitation workers obtain economic justice in terms of better pay and working conditions.

In this 45th year since his death and 50th-year anniversaries of his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” and his March on Washington, it should not be forgotten that King’s message was broader than bringing an end to segregation. He wanted to create a nation where all Americans, no matter their hue, had an equal opportunity to succeed — an equal playing field to reach the American dream.

The message included making sure every American had a chance to make a decent living. And he wasn’t talking about a handout.

That will be one of the key themes Thursday by labor leaders and civil rights officials participating in events commemorating King’s life. This is an issue, though, that transcends Memphis. American capitalism drives one of the world’s strongest economies. For the most part, individuals who prepare themselves for the job market have a good chance to have a good life.

That doesn’t mean that there are not cracks in the system.

The Great Recession of 2008 opened the eyes of many Americans, no matter their ethnicity.

The loss of jobs as companies tried to improve their bottom lines, the inability of many of those laid-off workers to quickly find new jobs or jobs that offered the same pay and benefits, and lingering double-digit unemployment in some areas have been a reality check for many Americans who thought their jobs were secure.

Workers in government-sector jobs also have seen layoffs, cuts in pay and changes in their benefits as local and state governments try to balance their budgets.

Some social and economic pundits frequently refer to the employment situation as the “new normal.” There are ways to mitigate that.

As a nation, we need to make sure that all children have the opportunity to receive a quality education — including a quality prekindergarten education — that prepares students to graduate from high school job-ready or ready to succeed at a two-year or fouryear college.

It should not be forgotten that giving all Americans an equal chance to succeed in life was just as important to King as ending racial injustice for AfricanAmericans.