Honor Dr. Martin Luther King by defending public workers and their unions

[Better Believe It]

Honor King by defending public workers

Madison Capital Times editorial
January 12, 2011

King, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaigner for economic and social justice whose legacy we celebrate with a holiday that falls on Jan. 17 this year, died while supporting the right of public employees to organize labor unions and to fight for the preservation of public services.

That inconvenient truth is sometimes obscured by pop historians, who would have us believe that King was merely a "civil rights leader." King's was a comprehensive activism that extended far beyond the boundaries of the movement to end segregation. His most famous address, the "I Have a Dream" speech, was delivered at the 1963 "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" — a historic event that explicitly linked the social and economic demands of campaigners for civil rights and economic justice.

And King always saw that linkage as being well-expressed — arguably best expressed — in the struggles of public employees and their unions for dignity, fair pay, fair benefits and a recognition of the contributions made by those who collect our garbage, clean our streets, police our communities, protect our environment, care for our aged and infirm family members, teach our children and deliver our mail.

No one should miss the fact that AFSCME, the union that they joined and the union with which King worked so closely, is now under attack by right-wingers who would have us believe that public workers are to blame for the problems that occur when policymakers blow the budget on tax cuts for the rich, bailouts for big banks and military adventures abroad.



Please read the full newspaper editorial at:

http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_13ab57bc-f99c-5dd3-b975-4b8cd7f21dd2.html

[Better Believe It]

1. Kick

[leftstreet]

2. Kick

Thanks for kicking this. I missed it

Excellent editorial

[w8liftinglady]

3. kick and done

[Catherina]

4. "Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours" n/t

[pottersvilleusa]

5. Yes!

Fight the Cheap Labor Conservatives by strengthening unions.

[KoKo]

6. Amazing to see a post like this sink to Archives on Dr. King's B-Day with Obama in WH!

Actually, it's shocking.

K&R..

[Odin2005]

7. K&R

[Omaha Steve]

8. K&R!

[mdmc]

9. ..