After a fatal accident on Feb 1st, when two men were killed by the compactor of the garbage truck they were working on, the public services company refused to compensate the families of the victims. Subsequently, the 1,300 sanitation workers of Memphis went on strike beginning Feb 12th.
The strike action, supported by the NAACP and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gained national attention, for the terrible working conditions and obvious racism that the Memphis sanitation workers had to suffer.
“You are reminding, not only Memphis, but you are reminding the nation that it is a crime for people to live in this rich nation and receive starvation wages,” King told the crowd.
Ongoing conflicts, involving the National Guard, resulting in the shooting death of one 16 year old youth, and the continued involvement of King, who gave his "on the mountaintop" speech in Memphis on April 3rd, the night before his own assassination.
Sources:
‘I Am a Man’: The ugly Memphis sanitation workers’ strike that led to MLK’s assassination, by DeNeen L. Brown, Washington Post (12 Feb 2018)
Memphis Sanitation Strike, Wikipedia
Comments
Post a Comment