Honoring Dr. King on April 4, 2011
We Are One –– Day Of Action Marked in Los Angeles
Official FAME Photos by Clayton Everett and Haywood Galbreath
LOS ANGELES –– On Monday, April 4, the 43rd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis, more than 2300 Angelenos filled the preeminent First A.M.E. Church to rally for workers in Wisconsin and across the U.S. who are fighting to preserve their collective bargaining rights. April 4 was a National Day of Action in support of Wisconsin, workers’ rights, and to honor Dr. King’s legacy. Over 1,000 events were held across the U.S. and abroad.
The highly acclaimed First A.M.E. gospel choir, the Brookinaires, opened the program and lit up the sanctuary with "Oh Happy Day.” First A.M.E. Senior Pastor John J. Hunter welcomed L.A. workers, students, community members, immigrants, and people of many faiths to his house of worship.
“Today we find ourselves, still in a class war. Warfare has been declared on working-class America of all races,” declared Pastor John Hunter, Senior Minister of First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles. In Memphis, Tenn., the A.M.E. Church was the church that opened its doors to 1,300 striking sanitation workers, who Martin Luther King was supporting at the time of his assassination.
Maria Elena Durazo, Excutive Secretary-Treasurer of the LA County Federation of Labor, emceed the event. “The people of Wisconsin woke up our nation. The people of Wisconsin woke up our labor movement. The people of Wisconsin have shown us all what it looks like to go all-in when your democracy and your basic freedoms are on the line,” said Durazo.
Two of the civil rights and labor leaders of the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike where Dr. King was killed, Reverend James Lawson and William Lucy, retired Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME, participated as keynote speakers. Their words and energy raised the consciousness and spirit of the event.It was difficult for workers to contain themselves, interrupting various speakers by chanting, “Stand up, fight back!”, “No justice, no peace!” and “This is whattdemocracy looks like!”
Rev. James Lawson, a civil rights leader who worked alongside King in the labor and civil rights struggles of the 1960s said, “It is an example of the powerful and the wealthy wanting to dominate 310 million people in this country and to do it, they must somehow keep us from joining hands across gender, color, complexity, class and religion and every other kind of division. We want justice, equality and access for all of the people of our land.”
“Dr. King’s identification with and in support of the sanitation workers’ strike in Memphis, Tennessee is so identical to the struggles of workers in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Maine, and any number of states,” said William Lucy. “The American public clearly is identifying with this struggle. The people are saying [to the governors], ‘You’re wrong. You are fundamentally wrong and you are using political power to achieve philosophical ends.’”
Laphonza Butler, SEIU-United Long Term Care Workers President, spoke about the struggle for America’s soul and how this is a time to speak up. Speakers also included Rosa Parks Elementary School cafeteria worker Jackie Brown, and DWP lineman Oscar Montelongo.
An authentic Wisconsin bratwurst barbecue was provided by Los Angeles electricians and members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11. The L.A. event was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO and California Common Cause.
This event also followed up the historic 20,000 person march in downtown L.A. on March 26 to stand with Wisconsin workers and demand good jobs in L.A.
The rally ended with William Lucy, retired Secretary-Treasurer of AFSCME and President of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists declaring, “We’re going to fight back not just to save a movement, but to build a movement!”
