Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on the 40th Anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassination

For Release April 4, 2008        Contact: Alison Omens 202-637-5018

          Statement by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

on the 40th Anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassination

April 4, 2008

Forty years ago today, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis.

But the movement Dr. King led with unparalleled strength and commitment was much larger than any one man, as he well understood.  Inspired by his words and example, that movement lives on, gaining more and more momentum, generation after generation, in the souls of millions of people who seek to make real his dream of social and economic justice.

We see it every time people join together to stand up to injustice, speak out for equality or sit down for fairness.  We see it in those who demand a government that will make our economy work for all, not for the few.  It's alive in all of us who insist that in America no one should go without health care.  And we see it every time working men and women engage in the struggle to improve their lives by forming unions.

As Dr. King said in 1965, "The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.  Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old age pensions, government relief for the destitute, and above all new wage levels that meant not mere survival, but a tolerable life."

When Dr. King was assassinated 40 years ago, he was in Memphis to assist striking African American sanitation workers, trapped in poverty and deplorable working conditions, who demanded recognition of their union so they could win respect on the job and a better life.  A few weeks before his death, he reminded the strikers, "…whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity, and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity, and it has worth.  One day our society must come to see this. One day our society will come to respect the sanitation worker if it is to survive. For the person who picks up our garbage, in the final analysis, is as significant as the physician.  All labor has worth."

Today, that statement of values is at the center of our national debate.  Each of us has a responsibility—not just on this day, but every day—to honor Dr. King's legacy in our actions.