A statement following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
We Will Build Our Union in His Image
Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis on April 4 while aiding the striking garbage workers of that city. Let none forget that he became a martyr in the cause of workingmen seeking the simple right to have a union to improve their wages and achieve the dignity of brotherhood through union solidarity. Let it be recorded that Martin Luther King died in the struggle for black workingmen in a southern city, fighting and striking for equal opportunity with white workingmen.
Let union haters, union busters, and racists stop shedding tears, passing resolutions about love and non-violence, and refrain from proclaiming their dedication to the ideals of Martin Luther King, for the racists and union haters share the guilt for this vicious and inhuman crime.
Martin Luther King belonged to us, to our members, to the poor, to the ghetto-dweller, to the black man and to the poor white man. He walked our picket lines, carried our banners in our demonstrations. He spoke to us, he encouraged us, he guided us. He was proud of his honorary membership in our union. He identified with the struggles of our members just as we identified with him.
The bullet that struck him down was aimed at us and at all people who work to put an end to injustice in our society. We will build no stone monuments to commemorate him. We will pass no pious resolutions. We will build our union in his image. We will raise high the banner of struggle in the fight against poverty, discrimination, ignorance, hate and war.
Martin Luther King will live as long as we, and others like us, dedicate ourselves to his ideals. Only those who cherished him in life have a right to commemorate him in death.
Source: Leon J. Davis, “We Will Build Our Union in His Image,” published in Local 1199’s union magazine, May 1968.
