Memphis Blues

Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Memphis to speak and march with the 1,300 black sanitation workers striking for union rights, workplace safety, and a living wage. Two months later, he was assassinated there. King's support for the workers in that segregated city exemplified his twin championing of civil and economic rights. The problems that brought him to Memphis have not been remedied. The night before his killing, King beseeched the sanitation workers, "We've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis." So we must today.