MLK Day: A Holiday and a Reminder

January 12, 2007

On April 3, 1968 the Rev. Martin Luther King spoke in Memphis, Tenn. in support of African American sanitation workers on strike for better working conditions and recognition of their AFSCME union (see video). Ensuring that workers were treated with respect no matter their race was almost unimaginable then and -- in some places -- remains a daunting task today. And what about gender equality? How many people dreamed back then that we would have a woman Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives today? We've made extraordinary progress in our country advancing civil rights for all, but the fight for dignity is not over. It goes on through struggles like raising the minimum wage, lowering prescription drug prices and making sure every worker can exercise the right to join a union through the Employee Free Choice Act. MLK Day is not only a holiday to honor a great man’s fight for social and economic justice. It is also a reminder that the struggle continues and it involves all those who have benefited from living in a better world thanks to the sacrifice of our forebears.