www.newsandletters.org
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, MAY 2003
King's legacy today
Memphis--On the morning of April 4, over 300 activists
and community members, Black, white, and Latino gathered to commemorate the
death of Martin Luther King Jr. with a rally and a march. The rally site was
Lemoyne-Owen College, a traditionally African-American university here. The amazing thing about the whole march was its location
and participants. One young anti-war activist woman remarked, "Since it was
through neighborhood streets (as opposed to downtown), a lot of people came out
on their porches to wave at us. There was a great mix of folks too, the usual
AFSCME participants [sanitation workers union that was on strike in 1968],
Lemoyne-Owen faculty and students [some of the faculty were busy celebrating and
unionizing at the same time], La Fuerza Latina Unida [a local Latino activist
organization], sororities and fraternities, neighborhood residents of all ages,
historians, peace activists, one of the Immokalee workers [tomato pickers
boycotting Taco Bell in protest of slave labor conditions in the fields], church
groups, a marching band, hell even an ROTC unit." Seeing people of all colors and types marching together
really helped with morale during this time of war and political and social
retrogression. Here in the South, everyone from politicians to TV and radio
station personalities claim to "remember the dream" and pay lip
service to King and his ideals. But remembering Dr. King and who he REALLY was
is still a rebellious action. --News and Letters youth |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |
