"I Am A Worker"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Chanting “We are one!” over a thousand activists marched through the streets of downtown Washington Monday -- the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. -- to show their solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and other states “where politicians backed by corporate CEOs are trying to take away the rights for which Dr. King gave his life,” said NAACP President Ben Jealous. The mass mobilization was one of nearly 20 locally, and more than 1,000 nationally, that were organized under the “We Are One” umbrella, in which over a million workers stopped business as usual either at work or after work to join vigils at their workplace, community rallies or marches at statehouses, coordinated by the AFL-CIO and many unions, community, religious and student groups. “We’re putting all employers and all elected officials on notice that we’re mobilizing as we haven’t in decades,” said CWA President Larry Cohen. Demonstrators at the DC march – which targeted the 14th Street offices of right-wing funders Charles and David Koch of the oil and consumer products conglomerate Koch Industries – carried signs saying “I Am A Man,” I Am A Woman” and “I Am A Worker,” linking the current struggles with the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike King was supporting when he was assassinated. As the crowd massed outside Koch Industries at 14th and G chanting “Shame, Shame!” a delegation led by Bob Edgar of Common Cause tried to present an oversized poster inviting the Koch brothers to “stand for working people and responsible corporate behavior” but were barred at the front door, where leaders – including SEIU’s Mary Kay Henry, Joe Hansen of UFCW, CWA’s Larry Cohen, Dennis Van Roegel of NEA, Phil Radford of Greenpeace and William McNery of USAction – and demonstrators signed the invitation and taped it to the door. Shortly after the march and rally, an overflow crowd packed the AFL-CIO for a riveting talk – and songs -- with author and labor historian Michael Honey (below), whose new book, "All Labor Has Dignity" collects Dr. King’s speeches on labor and economic justice. “The Memphis sanitation workers were fighting for the same things the Republicans are trying to take away now,” Honey reminded the crowd, “the right to bargain collectively and for dues check-off.” The Memphis workers back then understood, as the GOP does today, that “if your union can’t bargain than what good is it?” said Honey, who led stirring renditions of several iconic civil rights movement songs, including “We Shall Not Be Moved.” Although King today is largely remembered for his “I have a dream” speech, Honey’s research shows that King “was a social revolutionary,” and Honey noted that just before he was assassinated, King called for a general strike in Memphis, telling the crowd of 15,000 in Memphis that without its workers the city would grind to a halt and the workers would win their strike. Click here for more coverage on the We Are One website, the AFL-CIO's NOW Blog, LaborNotes and ThinkProgress. 
– report/photos by Chris Garlock