In 1968, Martin Luther King went to Memphis to support the Sanitation workers’ struggle to earn a living wage. On April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated in the midst of a battle for dignity for those public employees. Decades later, in response to attacks by ultra-conservative governors, the struggle for workers’ rights is spreading from union workers in states like Wisconsin to Americans who just want the chance find a job and earn a decent living.
Several of Denver’s prominent union forces -- Colorado Jobs with Justice, Service Employees International Union, American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, Communications Workers of America -- assembled along with students and community members who marched throughout downtown Denver on Monday, participating in a national ‘We Are One’ themed rally to commemorate the 43rd anniversary of Rev. King’s last speech and assassination.
The march ended at the Auraria Campus in Denver with an energetic rally featuring various human rights advocates carrying signs with bold slogans, some holding brooms and mops high symbolizing the depths of the service industry workers – who make up 90% of the nations workforce, according to recent research.
In conjunction with the March, the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) coordinated a student “walk-out” to attend the events on campus, and to send a message of solidarity with workers.
Curious students gathered around the rally to listen to the scheduled speakers, learning first-hand on the necessity of a renewed movement.
“We are going to take back as a movement what is rightfully ours, the power and prestige of this great nation,” stated Prior Kieran of St. Dunstan's Priory in Denver, an ecumenical order of Benedictines.
Citing prose from late civil rights leaders, Prior Kiernan recalled Rev. King’s quote, “‘Faith is never voluntary given by the oppressor it must ...