Martin Luther King Jr’s Fight Continues
BY BUDDY NEVINS
This is the week to remember the death and funeral in April 1968 of Martin Luther King Jr.
Below is an Associated Press summary of the aftermath in Florida of the King assassination on the morning of his funeral. The funeral was attended by 300,000 in Atlanta.
The copy, from April 9, 1968, is contained in the state archives.
So much has changed since then. So little has changed since then.
King died fighting for decent living wages for garbage workers in Memphis.
Today a fight continues to raise the minimum wage for the lowest paid members of society. If King was alive, we know what side he would be on.
(click to enlarge)
April 6th, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Buddy,
Why do you presume to know what side MLK would be on (on any issue) 50 years after his death? Are you forgetting that he was a registered Republican? Take a look at garbage workers today, they make a decent wage. Much higher than minimum wage.
April 6th, 2014 at 8:18 pm
Right now the fight is for fast food employees and mega retailer employees. You want smaller government, less handouts, pay people living wages! Bud’s right, MLK would be fighting as he did then for living wages, no matter what the color of your skin.
April 6th, 2014 at 10:33 pm
I think we can be pretty sure that MLK would not be a member of the Tea Party. Probably wouldn’t be supporting Rand Paul, either.
April 7th, 2014 at 11:10 am
MLK Junior was NOT a registered Republican. This is an old right wing myth that simply will not die.
His FATHER was a Republican because before 1968 that made perfect sense in the South; what black person in the South before the 1964-1968 period would register with a white supremacist party like the Democrats?
Sorry to be pedantic.
“Not every quote you read on the Internet is true” — Aristotle, 330 BC
April 7th, 2014 at 1:23 pm
Raise the Minimum Wage!
Supply side economics is a hoax. VooDoo economics has been a proven failure in America lining the pockets of only the wealthy few, and widening the wealth gap. When middle class people have more money in their pockets they spend it creating jobs and bolstering the economy. When the wealthy get to keep more money, well, they keep it.
Bush gave the wealthy a tax break and what happened? Jobs were lost not created. We need to grow the middle class, not the wage gap.
April 7th, 2014 at 10:10 pm
Many black youth, as well as youth of other races, have absolutely no interest in the amount of the minimum wage. They are independent contractors dealing in illegal drugs. They are self employed without paying the high taxes legally self employed people pay, zero dollars to Social Security. They kill each other over territories. What would MLK do?
FROM BUDDY:
Oh, pleeeze. This is clearly a bigoted statement.
April 8th, 2014 at 10:21 am
@Buddy, Please visit the Broward County Detention Center and you will have your eyes opened. Entire generations of youth are being wasted, their lives thrown away at very young ages. It is a very tragic situation that hurts not only the economy but families.
April 8th, 2014 at 4:13 pm
@Alice – the way to fix that is to end the “war on drugs”, recognize that drugs won, and focus instead on harm reduction.
http://www.businessinsider.com/portugal-drug-policy-decriminalization-works-2012-7
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230942