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Home , Clayborn Temple, Dorothy Cotton, Maxine Smith

The Memphis Sanitation Workers

Strike Movement

The Memphis Sanitation strike of 1968 was one of the greatest events in human history . This strike was led by black sanitation workers who were tired of human exploitation, economic oppression, and racism. Its history existed long before the 1960’s too. During the 1930’s, black workers and others (in groups like the CIO or the Congress of Industrial Organizations) fought for equality and labor rights. Their efforts were stymied by the efforts of white racists and business reactionary forces who wanted no recognition of a public union. Also, black people throughout America (not just in Memphis) suffered racism and even murder by bigots. Many people, who traveled into Memphis, came from the Deep South like Mississippi. Memphis is known for resources based on the river, music, various industries, and other diverse displays of beautiful culture. Memphis back then was also known for the evil of Jim Crow . This strike was the last campaign of the late Dr. Martin Luther Jr. The victory of the strike unfortunately came after his assassination in April 4, 1968. Yet, we remember his legacy and we will always remember the men and the women who stood up for workers’ rights . The wasn’t just made up of black people. There were many white people, Hispanic people, Asian people, etc. who fought in favor of equality and justice for black people too. Likewise, black people have always had a leadership position in our black liberation movement too. I want to make that point clear. During the strike, the stubborn, reactionary Mayor Henry Loeb fought against the strike until the end. He or Loeb was adamantly opposed to giving sanitation workers public union representation or recognition. There were so many names that were involved in this struggle for economic justice. Some of the major people involved in the strike are T.O. Jones, Ed Gillis, Bill Lucy, , Cornelia Crenshaw, Jesse Epps, Tarlease Matthews (she was a civil rights activist in Memphis. She later changed her name to Adjua Naantaanbuu and founded Memphis Kwanzaa International. She passed away in 2008), Rev. P. L. Rowe, Jerry Wurf (AFSCME’s international President), P.J. Chiampa (or AFSMCE), and others. The young Invaders group (who were influenced by the movement. It had people like Charles Cabbage and Coby Smith) had ideological conflicts with more of the older civil rights groups (the older civil rights groups wanted to use as a method to resist oppression while the Invaders wanted to use also self- defense to fight back against tyranny basically). Although, by April 1968, the diverse factions of the strike movement would come together.

We have to know other people involved in this struggle like Rev. James Lawson, John Burl Smith (who co- founded the Invaders in 1967), , Michael Cody (he is a white attorney who fought to get rid of the temporary injunction blocking the future April in Memphis, Tennessee), Dorothy F. Cotton (she was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference back then and an executive staff member of the SCLC), Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles (he was a leader of COME), Rev. (he worked in Chicago and ran ), Ernest Withers (he was a civil rights photographer. He has been accused of being an FBI informant recently. Withers’ family has strongly denied these charges), Rev. , Charles Cabbage, U.S. Marshall Cato Ellis (he delivered the injunction to Dr. King in April 3, 1968), (he was an aide to Dr. King), and so many other people.

Jim Crow oppression in Memphis

Memphis from the 1940’s to the 1960’s grew massively in population. Yet, Jim Crow apartheid was still in the city. After Reconstruction, white racists oppressed black people continuously. Black workers were restricted heavily from joining skilled labor. Sanitation workers had very low pay. Black workers were immediately fired for the most minor of reasons. The Mayor of Memphis Henry Loeb was a reactionary and he worked in public works projects. He wanted to maintain the status quo of having black sanitation workers to receive low wages, getting cheap equipment, and a refusal for the establishment of a public union to represent the black sanitation workers. Loeb ran for mayor as early as 1959. Back then, he was an open segregationist. By the early 1960’s, desegregation did exist in many areas of Memphis, but the right for economic rights remained nonexistent. Black people in Memphis struggled to have decent jobs with living wages and great working conditions. Black women also were discriminated by race and gender. Many sanitation workers back then had to collect garbage with their hands. Many white supervisors would call black sanitation workers derogatory names and racial slurs. The sanitation workers worked long hours without overtime pay. They had no paid vacations, no grievance procedure, and no sick leave. According to Professor Honey, black sanitation workers were just paid between 94 cents and $1.14 per hour (and during the following years, hourly wages were never more than 5 center per hour above the minimum wage for laborers). These men worked every day and they were mistreated by a racist system. In 1960, Thomas Oliver or T.O. Jones tried to organize a local union. He worked with O.Z. Evers, who was a neighborhood civic activist. Evers signed up sanitation workers as members of Teamsters Local 984. In Memphis, TN during the 1960’s, the sanitation workers were in involved in two strikes.

The commissioner of Public Workers rejected Evers’ and Jones’ request. In fact, the Public Works Department fired Jones and 32 other workers since they organized the request. In 1965, William Ingram was the new mayor of Memphis. He relied heavily on the African American vote in order for him to be mayor. Yet, Ingram was more moderate and was not standing up against the white racists who wanted the status quo. Sisson or the Public Works Commissioner fired union officers including T. O. Jones because of their fight for economic justice. Ingram reinstated token concessions like pay scales, heaters in some of the old trucks, etc. Yet, Sisson refused to recognize a public employee union. The first strike proposal was in August 1966 when Jones and other union organizers threatened to strike. The government threatened Jones with an injunction (or restrictions of free speech rights and the right to protest) and Jones ended his plans for his strike. That would change in 1968. On January 1, 1968, Henry Loeb was sworn in as mayor of Memphis once again. On Sunday, January 31, rain come about in the city.

The Strike begins

On the day of February 1, 1968, 2 African American sanitation workers were killed by an incident in a city truck. Both black men wanted to find shelter from the rain. Black workers were forced to work in the rain, even in harsh conditions. They were in the truck, the machine malfunctioned, and they were killed by the truck (being crushed to death). Their names are Echol Cole and Robert Walker. Enough was Enough. Sanitation workers and public employees would strike on February 12, 1968 (as a meeting in the Memphis Labor Temple). Leaders of this movement include T.O. Jones, , P. J. Ciampa, James Lawson, Bill Lucy (who was an AFSCME organizer), etc. Loeb would try to replace the workers and he wouldn’t budge during the vast majority of the strike. During the marches of strikes, many of the protesters would met in a church, plan strategies, and march through the city’s downtown area constantly. The strike lasted for over 2 months.

About 800 strikers took their message to the streets for the first time Feb. 13 marching more than three miles to City Hall from the United Rubber Workers of America union hall on Firestone. The group was so large it had to assemble in The Auditorium, a downtown concert hall, before it could be addressed by the mayor and union leaders.

The Memphis Sanitation Strike started on February 12, 1968. Only 38 of the 180 trucks moved during the beginning of the strike. Mayor Loeb made the premise that the strike is illegal since he wanted to reject any recognition of any public union in the city. He talked to people, but Loeb refused to budge. An International Union official, who flown in from Washington, came to meet with the mayor. He called for union recognition, dues checkoff, and negotiation to resolve the workers’ grievances. The Mayor said that he’ll send in new workers or scabs unless the strikers return to their jobs. There were people who protested in front of Loeb’s house. They were 7 black people and 4 white people. They were young people, made up of males and females, and they were sponsored by the NAACP. The NAACP wanted to escalate the strike in a more militant nonviolent direction. Some of the labor union members wanted to solely focus on economic issues while the black strikers and other black activists wanted the strike to be both about economic issues and racial justice. Many sanitation strikers would lose their jobs and income. So, church organizations and other political groups would provide the strikers with money and food. Activist Cornelia Crenshaw would provide the strikers with food too. Taylor Blair, T. O. Jones, Cornelia Crenshaw, Reverend Bell, City Council member J. O. Patterson Jr., and others were in a rally to discuss plans for the future. Clayborn Temple (which was a church) was a key staging ground for the protesters and the other activists who wanted the Memphis Sanitation workers to form a union.

One of the strongest leaders in this movement was Rev. James Lawson. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Reverend Lawson was a pacifist and he believed in . The Memphis NAACP endorsed the strike. AFSCME International Jerry Wurf arrived on February 18 on Sunday to support the strike movement. The Ministerial Association arranged a meeting between the Mayor and union leaders moderated by the Memphis Rabbi James Wax. Wurf accused Rabbi James Wax of being too moderate towards the Mayor in terms of negotiations. The NAACP and others stage an all-night vigil and picketed at city hall. On February 20, 1968, the union and the NAACP call for a citywide boycott of downtown merchants. Tensions would rise as the strikers (including the city Council subcommittee headed by Councilman Fred Davis) urged that the city recognize the union.

Struggle and Police Brutality in Memphis

On February 23, 1968, the Council refused to recognize the union. Strikers on that day marched on Main Street. The strikers are brutally assaulted unjustly by the police on that day. The cops pushed the protesters first. Later, one car ran over the foot of Gladys Carpenter, who was a black woman and a protester. Other protesters were struck with mace for no reason. A 60 year old black man was brutally assaulted by the police. The protesters were nonviolent, but the police had shotguns, rifles, and billy clubs to assault people. A black photographer Whittier Sengstacke Jr. photographed this movement too. He said that Ciampa was hit by mace and sanitation workers carried him away. Gillis was assaulted. Black protesters were hit with mace at random by the police, which hurt people's eyes and skin. On Saturday on February 24, Black leaders and ministers form a city wide organization to support the strike and the boycott. This organization was called COME or the Community on the Move for Equality . COME was an organization which were made up of many activist organizations. Carl Montgomery and other strikers used the “I AM A MAN” placard on themselves to march in Memphis. The city gets a court injunction to try to stop union from staging demonstrations or picketing on February 24, which was draconian and against the First Amendment. The ministers call on their congregation to boycott and march in the streets. The Mayor still refused to back down. The Union filed suit in federal court over the evil injunction on February 29.

On March 1, the Mayor met with black ministers and the windows of his home were broken. He blamed the strikers, which is ludicrous. A federal judge rejected the union’s suit. The community of Memphis on March 3 showed support for the strikers by rising money and there is an eight hour gospel singing marathon at Mason Temple (which raised money for the strikers). The mayor opposed State Senator Frank White proposing bill to create state mediation board to resolve the impasse. On March 5, ministers announced the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will come to Memphis as 116 strikers and supporters are arrested for sitting in at city hall. Seven union leaders are given 10 day sentences and fines for contempt of court on March 6. Strikers on that day stage a mock funeral at city hall lamenting the death of freedom in Memphis. Many young people supported the strike like students from Hamilton High School.

The City Council voted against the dues checkoff proposal on the next day. There are trash fires in South Memphis. The supporters of the strikers were blamed for fires. Most of the Memphis newspapers supported Mayor Loeb. Loeb's supporters and most newspapers during that time demonize the strikers in classist, racist terms. During all of this time, the MPD (or the Memphis Police Department), the FBI, and the Military Intelligence services would illegally monitor the activists, the strikers, union leaders, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Even Memphis police leader Frank Holloman of Memphis had extensive ties to the FBI . The youth including students would skip high school to participate in the march in March 11, led by black ministers. 2 students were arrested. There is also the existence of the Invaders. Many founders of the Invaders were Charles Cabbage, Richard Cabbage, John Burl Smith, John Henry Ferguson, Milton Mack, and other young people. The Invaders promoted Black Power and wanted to end white racism. They viewed the ministers as too moderate and out of touch with the youth. The Invaders had suspicions about Dr. King in the beginning, because of his promotion of nonviolence, but later they allied with him as a bridge between the ministers and the youth activists. National NAACP leader and in March would speak to strikers. The scabs only operate 90 garbage trucks by mid-March. During this time, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was working on his Poor People's Campaign . This campaign was uniting people across colors in order to force the government to do something about the massive poverty situation in America. This campaign wanted economic justice for poor people in America. The goals of this agenda included billions of dollars to be spent to allow the federal government to make a commitment to full employment, to establish guaranteed annual incomes for Americans, funding for affordable, quality housing, etc.

This is Jerry Wurf or the President of AFSCME Union talking with Dr. King. Jerry Wurf was a big part of the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As Michael K. Honey's "Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign" has accurately stated:

"...They had spent their lives in the civil rights movement and the Black church. Now, King called on them to organize a new multiracial constituency around class issues among Mexican-Americans, Indians, and poor whites as well as African Americans. SCLC did not have the resources and organizing structure to make it happen. Almost alone, King had to convince not only the civil rights community and a broader public, but also his own reluctant staff members, that they could organize the poor..."

‘‘This is a highly significant event,’’ King told delegates at an early planning meeting, describing the campaign as ‘‘the beginning of a new co-operation, understanding, and a determination by poor people of all colors and backgrounds to assert and win their right to a decent life and respect for their culture and dignity’’ (SCLC, 15 March 1968). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted Congress to pass an Economic Bill of Rights, so the poor can have true freedom and justice.

The arrival of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Challenges

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Memphis, TN on March 18. He wanted Memphis to be successful before he implements fully the Poor Peoples Campaign. He sends his SCLC team with him (which includes people like Ralph Abernathy, Orange, Jesse Jackson, Bevel, etc.). In a rally, Dr. King speaks to about 17,000 Memphians in Mason Temple. He spoke about economic justice and he called for a citywide march on March 22, 1968.

A snowstorm in Memphis blocked Dr. King’s return. The march comes in March 28, 1968. It fails since some people were violent and broke windows. The police overreacted. The police killed a 16 year teenager named Larry Payne. They or the cops used tear gas. They assaulted people. On that date of March 28, 1968, Memphis NAACP president Jesse H. Turner received rough treatment from police as he tried to restore calm and convince marchers to return to nearby Clayborn Temple AME Church after a march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on behalf of striking sanitation workers, which ended in violence. Jesse H. Turner said: "I was going to help police get things orderly. Someone shot me with Mace. Lord, what a mess." The police ran people to churches and assaulted people near a church and used tear gas near a church. 280 people are arrested and about 60 people are injured.

There was a curfew and National Guardsmen moved in at Memphis after the March 28 march. Dr. King and the 14 labor leaders were dismayed, but they carried on. On March 29, 300 sanitation workers and ministers marched peacefully and silently from Clayborn Temple to City Hall. They were escorted by five armored personnel carriers, five jeeps, three military trucks and dozens of Guardsmen with bayonets fixed. These men carry the signs entitled, “I AM A MAN” which one strong motto of the Memphis sanitation strike movement in general. President Lyndon Johnson and AFL-CIO President George Meany offered assistance in resolving the dispute, but Loeb turned them down. March 31, 1968 was when Dr. Martin Luther King in the National Cathedral (in Washington, D.C.) called for peace, an end to the Vietnam War, and economic justice. On April 1, the curfew is lifted. The funeral of Larry Payne happened on April 2, 1968. Hundreds of human beings attend his funeral. The National Guard was soon withdrawn from Memphis. Dr. King met with the Invaders at first in April 3, 1968. The Invaders during that day refused to promote nonviolence in the upcoming march in Memphis. Dr. King calmed other SCLC members who are angry at the Invaders (since they or the Invaders were accused by many SCLC members of acting as agent provocateurs whom some of the Invaders vehemently denied). Now, we do know that Marrell McCullough (who was once an Army MP) was an undercover Memphis police agent back then. He was a mole. He joined the CIA in 1974, so Marrell is a traitor. Marrell McCullough infiltrated the Invaders group. We know about COINTELPRO, which was an FBI program, which was formed to harm the anti-war, civil rights, labor, and other progressive movements. Many FBI agents were in Memphis to illegally monitor the movement too. Members of the 111th Military Intelligence Group of the U.S. Army Military Intelligence monitored Dr. King illegally (and they had an office in the downtown Memphis federal building).

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to ally the civil rights movement with the labor and anti-war movements. Unification of all of these progressive movements and using an action plan of the Poor Peoples Campaign was a direct threat to the establishment (who wanted war, austerity, imperialism, and the status quo).

The last 2 days while Dr. Martin Luther King was on this Earth were certainly filled with courage and inspiration. Dr. King arrived in the Memphis airport in 10:33 am. on April 3, 1968. He came to Memphis late, because of a bomb threat in . 7 minutes later, Dr. King held a brief press conference to many reporters inside of Gate 17. Asked if he will obey an expected injunction banning a march through Downtown Memphis, King says, “I’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.’’ Six police officers, all in plainclothes, looked on. Dr. King then goes into the front seat of the Memphis activist Tarlease Matthews’ Buick Electra. In the back seat are his advisers Ralph Abernathy Andrew Young, and Bernard Lee. Trailing them in a Lincoln Continental is of the SCLC. Dr. King arrives in the Lorraine Hotel at 11:20 am. on April 3, 1968. He and Abernathy check into Room 306, which opens to the motel’s second floor balcony. Dorothy Cotton is next door in Room 307. Young is downstairs in Room 209. From 11:20 am. to Noon, police cruisers arrive at the Lorraine to form a ring of security around the motel. In 12:05 am., Dr. King’s entourage departs for Centenary United Methodist Church in South Memphis.

The picture to the left showed many leaders of the SCLC or the Southern Christian Leadership Council. The image to the right shows Maxine Smith, who was one of the activists involved in the heroic 1968 Memphis sanitation strike.

Dr. King rides again with Sister Tarlease Matthews in her Buick Electra. Plainclothes police follow them. Dr. King and others go to the Centenary Methodist church to discuss strategies about the upcoming march with Rev. James Lawson. Dr. King is driven back to Lorraine by 2:25 pm. Dr. King then eats lunch with the Invaders about hoping to convince them to do nonviolence in the upcoming march. It would be on 2:48 pm. that the U.S. Marshall will serve Dr. King the restraining order of injunction (this injunction desires Dr. King to stop marching in a future march in Memphis). Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decides to go forward despite the injunction. By 3 pm., he meets with a group of lawyers in the Lorraine, who are trying to get rid of the injunction. The lawyers’ names are Lucius Burch, Michael Cody, Charlie Newman and Walter Bailey. He tells the lawyers “my entire future depends” on the success of a peaceful march in Memphis. Dr. King’s staff continues to talk with the Invaders. When Charles Cabbage asks for money from Dr. King’s group for a liberation school and other programs, Dr. King offers to help get funding. At night time, Dr. King is resting while Ralph Abernathy arrives at the Mason Temple to speak to strikers after 8pm. on April 3.

Dr. King's Assassination and the Strike Continues

The night of April 3 was stormy in Memphis. Ralph Abernathy had to call Dr. King from the Lorraine Hotel to come to the Mason Temple. The crowd of people in the Mason Temple church wants Dr. King to come and speak to them. Dr. Martin Luther King awakes from his rest and travels into the Mason Temple to deliver his great speech. On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say his final public speech, which would be the historic “I Have Been to ” speech in Mason Temple. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave one of his greatest speeches in his life. He talked about history, economic justice, and the struggle in Memphis. His last prophetic words in the speech were the following:

"...Now about injunctions: We have an injunction and we're going into court tomorrow morning to fight this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly . Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech . Somewhere I read of the freedom of press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around . We are going on...Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!

And so I'm happy, tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!” After the speech, the crowd in the church cheered in applause. Members of the church are in jubilation. Many people cried in Mason Temple including preachers. Dorothy Crook praised the speech and she would be a president of Local 1733. After the speech, Dr. King celebrated and ate food in Reverend Ben Hook's house. During the early morning, Dr. King met with A.D. King (or Dr. King's brother), Ralph Abernathy, Kentucky State Senator Georgia Davis, and SCLC administrative aide Lucy Ward to talk about future plans in the Lorraine Hotel. After a brief SCLC strategy meeting on 8 am. in April 4, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. went to bed.

On Midnight of April 4, 1968, Dr. King’s brother A.D. William King arrived at the Lorraine Hotel with Georgia Davis Powers (or the newly elected state senator from Louisville, Kentucky back then) and her friend Lucretia Ward. The trio drove from Florida where they’d been vacationing. At 1:00 am., Dr. King, Abernathy, and Bernard Lee returned to the Lorraine. The door to Room 207 is open. Lucretia Ward spots Dr. King and asks him to come over and Dr. King spends much of the early hours of April 4th talking to his brother A.D., Davis, and Ward. By 4 am., Davis goes to Room 201. By 5 am, Dr. King goes up to Room 306, which is the room that he shares with Abernathy. During 9:30 am, there is the hearing on the injunction in federal court. The morning of April 4th, 1968 is dominated by testimony from Police and Fire Director Frank Holloman and others asking Brown to forbid a second march. Southern Christian Leadership Conference aide Dorothy Cotton suddenly leaves on an Eastern Airlines jet returning to Atlanta on 11:40 am. The police monitored King from a peephole in the fire station across the street receive a telephone threat on 12:25 pm. A woman tells Officer Ed Redditt (who was monitoring Dr. King too): “You’re doing your own black people wrong and we are going to do you wrong.’’ On 1 pm. King and Abernathy had lunch in the Lorraine and they ate a platter piled high with steaming catfish. Rev. James Lawson takes the stand in federal court on 1:05 pm. Lawson called Dr. King the “the primary prophet in the United States” and “the major voice of hope,” he tells Brown that although King was at the front a March 28 protest march through Downtown, he wasn’t involved in its planning or organization. Andrew Young testified in court too, so the injunction can be lifted. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. talked with his Brother A.D. King, Davis, and Ward in the early afternoon.

By 3:00 pm., in a meeting in Room 306, King and his aides grapple over the Invaders. tells King he wants to put Invaders leader Cabbage on the SCLC payroll. King bristles and said to Hosea: “Hosea, no one should be on our payroll that accepts violence as a means of social change.” Detective Redditt is pulled from his surveillance post at the firehouse. Police brass removed Redditt after determining there is a plot to kill or harm him. Andrew Young returned to the Lorraine (on 4:30 pm.) where, in Room 201, he briefed King, Abernathy and others. Playfully, King and Young engage in a pillow fight. On 5:50 pm., John B. Smith, Charles Cabbage, Milton Mack and about eight other members of the Invaders carry their bags downstairs and leave the Lorraine after they’re told that the SCLC will no longer pay for their rooms. Some climb into a light blue Mustang driven by Cabbage. Afterwards, Dr. King and his aides prepare for dinner. Rev. Kyles emerges from Room 312 and knocks on King’s door on 5:51 pm, saying they need to hurry if they are to eat at his house and make a rally later in the evening. King and Abernathy tease Kyles about another dinner they had at a preacher’s house that featured a meatless hambone.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also told Jesse Jackson that he wanted the song "Precious Lord" to be song by Ben Branch at the night's rally. Abernathy was in the room 306 to prepare for dinner. Later, Dr. King saw Orange, Bevel, and Young wrestling in a playing fashion in the parking lot. Dr. King joked with Orange since Orange was a tall, big man. At just after 6:00 pm. on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot by a bullet. The fast moving, strong bullet went to his jaw and he fell to the ground. The bullet came from a rifle. Abernathy, Kyles, Jackson, and others ran to his aide. Dr. King was sent to the hospital where he passed away.

The Uprisings and Rebellions of April 1968 News spread of his death and the April rebellions occurred in over 100 cities nationwide. Many of the strikers cried. These rebellions lasted throughout early April of 1968. It was the greatest wave of social unrest in the United States of America since the Civil War. Some of the largest rebellions took place in Washington, D.C. Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Wilmington (in Delaware), Louisville, and Kansas City. Many people were hurt, angry, and disillusioned because a black man, who stood up for nonviolence and opposed the evil, unjust Vietnam War, was brutally murdered unjustly. The bullet may have come from a person, but the system of white racism contributed to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. directly. People were tired of oppression. There were no massive rebellions in Boston (which was the city where James Brown was performing a concert when Dr. King passed away), Indianapolis, and Los Angeles. The rebellion happened in Washington D.C. in a great fashion. As word of King's murder in Memphis spread on the evening of Thursday, April 4, crowds began to gather at 14th and U. Kwame Ture led members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to stores in the neighborhood demanding that they close out of respect. Although polite at first, some in the crowd started to break windows. There was damage to buildings in D.C. was widespread by 11 pm. in April 4th. During the next day, more buildings we set on fire, and there were crowds of as many as 20,000 people, who overwhelmed the District's 3,100- member police force.

Then, President Lyndon B. Johnson dispatched some 13,600 federal troops, including 1,750 federalized D.C. National Guard troops, to assist them (in Washington, D.C.). Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5, rebellions in D.C. reached within two blocks of the White House before people retreated. The occupation of Washington, D.C. was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. Smoke from burning buildings can be seen from the White House. Mayor Walter Washington imposed a curfew and banned the sale of alcohol and guns in the city. By the time the city was considered pacified on Sunday, April 8, some 1,200 buildings had been burned, including over 900 stores. Damages reached $27 million. There was a massive rebellion in Chicago too. On April 5, 1968 there was damage in the West side and in the South Side. There were over 30 fires in one day. On April 6, Mayor Richard J. Daley (who was of the Democratic party machine) imposed a curfew on anyone under the age of 21, closed the streets to automobile traffic, and halted the sale of guns or ammunition. Approximately 10,500 police were sent in, and by April 6, more than 6,700 Illinois National Guard troops arrived in Chicago. President Lyndon B. Johnson also sent in 5,000 troops of the 1st Armored Division into the city. The General in charge declared that no one was allowed to have gatherings in the "riot" areas, and he authorized the use of tear gas. Mayor Richard J. Daley gave police the authority "to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov cocktail in his hand ... and ... to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting any stores in our city." By the time "order" was restored on April 7, 1968 in Chicago, 11 people had died, 138 had been injured, and 2,150 had been arrested. Over 200 buildings were damaged in the disturbance with damage costs running up to $10 million. The South Side in Chicago had escaped the major chaos mainly because the two large street gangs, the Blackstone Rangers and the East Side Disciples, cooperated to control some neighborhoods. Many gang members did not participate in the rebellion, due in part to King's direct involvement with these groups in 1966. Baltimore had a large rebellion in 1968. On Saturday, April 6, the Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew, called out thousands of National Guard troops and 500 Maryland State Police to quell the disturbance. When it was determined that the state forces could not control the riot, Agnew requested Federal troops from President Lyndon B. Johnson. By Sunday evening, 5000 paratroopers, combat engineers, and artillerymen from the XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, specially trained in tactics, including sniper school, were on the streets of Baltimore with fixed bayonets, and equipped with chemical (CS) disperser backpacks. Two days later, they were joined by a Light Infantry Brigade from Fort Benning, Georgia. With all the police and troops on the streets, the situation began to calm down. In several instances, these disturbances were rapidly quelled through the use of bayonets and chemical dispersers by the XVIII Airborne units. That unit arrested more than 3,000 detainees, who were turned over to the Baltimore Police. A general curfew was set at 6 p.m. in the city limits and martial law was enforced. As rioting continued, African American plainclothes police officers and community leaders were sent to the worst areas to prevent further violence. By the time the riot was over, 6 people were dead, 700 injured, 4,500 arrested and over 1,000 fires set. More than a thousand businesses had been looted or burned, many of which never reopened. Total property damage was estimated at $13.5 million (1968$). Agnew blamed black civil rights leaders for the rebellion, which is ludicrous. Agnew promoted race-baiting rhetoric and he was Nixon's Vice President. Karma came to Agnew when he resigned because of corruption. On April 9, 1968, the Kansas City Police people deployed tear gas against student protesters who were peacefully protesting outside of City Hall. This caused the rebellion in Kansas City. 5 people died and at least 20 were admitted to hospitals. The Wilmington rebellion caused the National Guard to occupy Wilmington for 9 ½ months. During the rebellion, which occurred on April 9–10, 1968, the mayor asked for a small number of National Guardsmen to help restore order. Democratic Governor Charles L. Terry (a southern- style Democrat) sent in the entire state National Guard and refused to remove them after the rioting was brought under control. Republican Russell W. Peterson defeated Governor Terry, and upon his inauguration in January 1969, Governor Peterson ended the National Guard’s occupation in Wilmington This occupation caused more racial tensions. The Kerner Commission (which was released in February 29, 1968) accurately gave the reasons on why 60's rebellions transpired in the first place. The document of the Kerner Commission was 426 pages. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pronounced the report a "physician's warning of approaching death, with a prescription for life." One quote from the report says the following: "...Segregation and poverty have created in the racial ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans. What white Americans have never fully understood but what the Negro can never forget — is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it..." As one source from Sister Keenaga-Yamahtta Taylor accurately states : “…In fact, it was the widespread and continuous nature of the riots that turned them from episodic outbreaks of discontent into a force that transformed U.S. politics. The issues that defined the urban crisis--poor housing, police brutality, poor schools and unemployment, among others--went from being politically peripheral to what President Lyndon Johnson termed "the nation's most urgent task."

Thus, the urban rebellions of the 1960s arguably constituted the most important political events of the decade. Over the course of the 1960s, public spending on housing and other urban issues went from $600 million at the beginning of the decade to more than $3 billion by the decade's end--and the federal government created the Department of Housing and Urban Development… Rebellions, of course, don't go on forever. They eventually run into the power of the state, and the rebels become fatigued once the adrenaline of feeling politically alive subsides. To bring about the substantial changes needed to really transform the lives of workers and the poor, something more is needed: strategies, politics and organization…” ( Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s “Urban rebellions and social change ” from August 12, 2011).

The aftermath of the 1968 rebellions was huge. The rebellions influenced by passage of the in April 11, 1968 (Title VIII advanced the Fair Housing Act, which advances equal housing opportunities regardless of race, creed, or national origin). It also increased white flight and it represented the end of one era of the black freedom struggle and the beginning of a new chapter of the black American experience. Soon, Richard Nixon (a reactionary Republican), who exploited the rebellions under the guise of “law and order,” won the 1968 Presidency. He would be inaugurated in 1969. Nixon (who was responsible just like the FBI for the crushing of the ) promoted “black capitalism” not as a revolutionary policy, but as a means to try to pacify the black community under the guise of the “illusion of inclusion.” In The Black Power Mixtape , Panther leader explains in an interview: "We look at this program as a very international-type program. It's for any human being who wants to survive...Socialism is the order of the day, and not Nixon's Black capitalism. That's out." That is why we must confront not only racism, but class oppression. After 1968, we still have a long way to go. We have legitimately fought for civil rights and voting rights, but economic inequality has grown since 1968 (because of many reasons like the neoliberal policies, the War on Drugs , austerity actions against legitimate social programs, deindustrialization, inflation, the system of mass incarceration, the Great recession of the 21st century , and other reasons). There has been the growth of the black middle class and the black rich since 1968, but the black poor is still suffering a great deal in urban and rural communities of America. We know how many Wall Street banks have exploited the poor with payday loans and other evil actions. In many cities, big businesses collaborated with city leaders in gentrifying communities, allowing the police to occupy communities, privatizing resources, and advancing other forms of neoliberal policies, which can never cause massive solutions to problems. Another legacy of the 1968 rebellions is that it continued the focus on police misconduct, economic inequality, racism, and other injustices for decades to come. No one can be truly liberated in this society unless the problems of economic injustice and racial injustice are fully addressed. Even today, we are still fighting for the same goal (which is freedom, justice, and equality for all people ) that the late, courageous Brother Dr. Martin Luther King, the great Sister , the persistent, strong Sister , the internationally minded and strong Brother , etc. were fighting for.

Coretta Scott King was told of the news by Jesse Jackson when she was shopping with Yolanda. The King family and friends cried in the Atlanta airport. has shown amazing strength and courage. She used her power to inspire the Memphis sanitation workers to carry onward with the strike. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow, Coretta Scott King, and three of the couple's four children - (left), Martin Luther King III and - led a march through downtown Memphis Monday, April 8, 1968. The march, originally planned to refocus attention on the sanitation strike, became a memorial to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sister Dorothy Cotton (who was so involved in helping humanity in education, civil rights, and other legitimate causes) is the person to the far left. She fought for justice then and now. The Brother to the far right with tears in this eyes is Brother T. O. Jones, who was a stalwart leader of the movement in Memphis.

The Memphis sanitation strikers win

From the beginning the federal government believed that the lone assassin murdered Dr. King. It is important to note that a landmark court case in America found that the United States government was responsible for the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1999. President Lyndon Johnson instructed Undersecretary of Labor James Reynolds to mediate the strike settlement on April 5, 1968. Reynolds met with Mayor Loeb and meetings came about. Mrs. Coretta Scott King and dozens of national figures (on Monday, April 8, 1968) lead a peaceful memorial march throughout downtown Memphis in tribute to Dr. King and in support of the strike . Funeral services were held for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta at April 9, 1968. During the next day, Reynolds continues with the meetings with city and union officials, most without publicity. By Tuesday on April 16, 1968, AFSCME leaders announced that an agreement has been reached. The strikers vote to accept it. The strike is finally over. People celebrate and many cried including T. O. Jones (who was one great leader of the Memphis sanitation strike from the beginning). Memphis sanitation workers have fought and won a great battle in the overall struggle for racial and economic justice.

There were many changes that happened as a product of the victory of the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike. The Poor Peoples Campaign of May 1968 started off strong with Coretta Scott King and the then new SCLC leader Ralph Abernathy leading thousands of people from across the country to Washington, D.C. Yet, it was disorganized and it lacked heavy support from the federal government. Sincere people sacrificed their time to express their voices on the legitimate issue of economic justice. These human beings wanted a living wage, the end to poverty, and a truly democratic society. The “Resurrection City” encampment was soon disembarked by June of 1968. Its failure didn’t mean that nothing positive came about from it. Many programs that helped the poor and other human beings existed as a result of the Poor Peoples Campaign. It should be noted that Sister Marian Wright Edelman inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to advance the Poor Peoples Campaign originally . June 6, 1968 was the date when Robert F. Kennedy was unfortunately assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. During the summer of 1968, the sanitation workers almost striked again, because the Loeb’s administration refusal at first to implement its “Memorandum of Agreement.” Workers from the John Gaston Hospital did strike. The strike happened for 49 days during the fall of 1968. These workers wanted a memo of understanding. They were supported by COME.

The year after Dr. King’s assassination, people rallied in Memphis to commemorate his life and to fight for justice. Many people carried picket signs reading: “Honor King: End Racism” and “I Am a Man .” They rallied downtown and speakers included Coretta Scott King and then Senator Edward Kennedy. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. advocated labor rights and peace, but the corporate establishment constantly wants to portray Dr. King in the limited space of a few issues.

These are protesters on Main Street on November 12, 1969. The protests were centering primarily on demands of the Memphis NAACP branch that blacks should have representation on the Memphis Board of Education and a strike at St. Joseph Hospital by the AFSCME (AFL-CIO). (Robert Williams / The Commercial Appeal). The New Era of Memphis

During the fall of 1969, workers created a strike from St. Joseph Hospital for recognition, and dues checkoff. They also wanted the school board and other supervisory positions to be opened up to black people. Thousands of people demonstrated in Memphis. Many people ended up in jail like Reverends Lawson, Jackson, Abernathy, Blackburn, Bell, and Bevel along with Milton Guthrie, and other human beings. They failed to make the strike successful, but the school board did open up to more black people like Maxine Smith. Maxine Smith graduated from Booker T. Washington High School at the age of 15. Four years later, she graduated from in Atlanta. She earned her masters’ degree from Middlebury College, in Vermont. The Invaders participated in more disagreements with COME and the SCLC over funds. Police brutality continued in Memphis. A mob of cops in October of 1971 beat the 16 year old black youth named Elton Hayes to death. Even the city suspended 23 officers over this incident of cruel, police brutality.

The Brother’s name is Modibo Kadalie. He was one leader of the 1977 Atlanta strike. He told his story in Decatur, Georgia on October 6, 2013 (in an interview with Robert Sabatino and Andrew Zonneveld).

The Atlanta Strike The struggle for justice continues. The 1977 Atlanta strike hasn’t been discussed much in America. Now, it is time to show the story. First, the 1970 strike in Atlanta must be explained first. In 1970, sanitation workers in Atlanta fought for union recognition, higher wages, and change in the unequal social relations between city management and rank and file employees. Their demands were very similar to the striking sanitation workers in Memphis two years ago. The mayor of Atlanta was Sam Massell (who fired workers and used prisoners from city jails for garbage removal). AFSCME Local 1644 represented the striking workers. Maynard Jackson back then was vice mayor and he was a lawyer with the National Labor Relations Board. He publicly criticized Massell’s reactionary actions involving the strike and said that the wages of the workers in Atlanta was a “disgrace before God.” The striking workers won the 1970 strike movement in Atlanta, which was a great thing.

Now, Maynard Jackson was elected mayor in 1973. He was the first black mayor of Atlanta. Yet, by March of 1977, Maynard’s action would be a “disgrace before God.” The 1977 strike came about when municipal sanitation workers (mostly black workers who were paid very low wages) just wanted living wages and better conditions as workers. Maynard Jackson refused to support the strike. In fact, he hired scab to replace the strikers. The 1977 strikes happened in 2 separate waves. The first one happened in the four weeks in January and February. Sanitation workers wildcatted when they were told to report to work in cold weather condition. The city and union had agreed that employees did not have to work if the temperature was below 25 degrees, which it was on the 18th and 19th of January. City bosses ignored this agreement and docked employee pay. Already upset their demands for higher wages were falling on deaf ears, many sanitation workers walked off the job for a week in February when city officials refused to reinstate pay. Even the majority of AFSCME stayed in the job from the Local 1644.

Token concessions came involving the first strike. The second strike came in March 28 (the AFSCME Local 1644 wanted the city to have a 50 cent per hour wage increases to a salary averaging $7,000 annually). Jackson refused to support the strikers as he was up for reelection and he worked with the white business elites and the middle class in order for him to be re-elected. Ads in the New York Times and the Atlanta Constitutions criticized Jackson since the city budgets showed multi-million dollar surpluses that could cover the wage increases for the sanitation workers. The strikers wanted self-determination and economic justice. Yet, Maynard collaborated with mainstream establishment black leaders and white corporate heads to prevent the 1977 Atlanta strike from being successful. The second strike continued. Unfortunately, there was massive community support against the strikers. The old white business and civic elite and the black ruling elite (many of whom were from the civil rights establishment) worked together in stopping the second strike. To his credit, Rev. James Lawson (a community leader in the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike), compared Jackson to Henry Loeb and supported the Atlanta strikers. Rev. James Lawson to this very day has fought for the rights of black people, the poor, and immigrants . The Coalition of Black Trade Unionist (CBTU) also supported the sanitation workers in Atlanta, chastising Jackson for using “Black workers as political pawns in his efforts to please a middle class black political constituency and satisfy the black establishment.” On April 12th, 1977, garbage workers dumped garbage on the steps of city hall. Many protesters were arrested. Community support in favor of the workers existed, but in small numbers. In mid- April, the morale among the strikers was faltering. The city’s major newspapers the Atlanta Constitution and the black-owned Atlanta Daily World both publicly supported Jackson’s firing of workers. There were many people in Atlanta who supported the courageous strikers also. The strike folded on April 16th, 1977.

The upper class (who wanted the status quo and they have great privilege via the capitalist system) ended the strike, but the fight for economic justice continues. There was the organizing of the rail and bus operators for Atlanta’s public transit system (MARTA) in 2005. They sought better pay and benefits, and more control of workplace conditions. Their demands were blocked at every turn by MARTA’s board. MARTA workers were forced to accept an unfavorable contracted handed down by a judge (many health benefits and workplace control were sacrificed for a very modest raise). The labor movement took a blow, but in the future, the labor movement would be revitalized by the 21st century (with the fight for 15 movement, with the protests nationwide about workers’ rights, etc.). So, we want black people and all people to be free and have justice. This is why it is importance to have solidarity with the working class and challenge the agenda of the establishment (so, real justice can exist). We will always respect Brothers and Sisters standing up for the truth.

Since the 1960’s, we see center-right neoliberal politics replaced much of the progressive revolutionary politics in America . Now, we see shifts away from the Social Gospel of help for the workers and the poor into a more individualistic, materialistic “gospel” embraced by followers of the Prosperity Gospel. We see many people more concerned with wealth, popularity, and prestige (as shown in Instagram pictures and pomp including circumstance) than for the welfare for fellow human beings irrespective of their wealth or class.

Our Modern Times

There has been the growth of the right wing backlash (or the counterrevolution) as predicted by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This backlash is about reactionary forces cutting back many of the civil rights, labor rights, and other human rights gains of the past decades. For example, collective bargaining has been restricted in many states. Voter ID laws (which suppress access to voting rights) is found in the South, the Midwest, etc. Ronald Reagan was the reactionary agent of negative change. Like Nixon, he supported the actions of the Southern Strategy as a political tactic to gain political power . He was governor of California in 1966. He was slick to play on people’s unwarranted fears (especially when he spoke his 1980 speech in Philadelphia, MS, which is a town famous for the murder of three civil rights workers in 1964). In Mississippi, Reagan spoke in favor of states’ rights when states’ rights have been used as code for Jim Crow apartheid. Human rights will always be superior to states’ rights. Later, he was elected President by 1980. I was alive when Reagan was President, so I know what it was like during that time period. He fired nearly 12,000 air traffic controllers who went on strike in August 1981, which outraged millions of human beings. There were massive cuts to federal funding to vital social programs. Also, there were progressive forces who stood up against Reaganomics heroically .

A study released by the Economic Policy Institute on Labor Day, 1992, confirmed the details of Reaganomics’ dismal aftermath. “Poverty rates were high by historic standards,” said the report, and “those in poverty in 1989 were significantly poorer than the poor in 1979.” A 1991 congressional report disclosed that hunger had grown by 50% since the mid-1980s, to include some 30 million people. The share of US income received during 1980-1988 by the 5% highest-income households grew from 16.5% to 18.3% while the second poorest 20%'s share of U.S. income received during the same time period fell from 10.2% to 9.6%. Today in 2015, we have one reactionary, racist, xenophobic, narcissistic and misogynistic Republican Presidential candidate (who believes in the myth that Iran is soon to develop a nuclear weapon) publicly advocating the elimination of parts of the 14th Amendment that deals with birthright citizenship and wants to heavily restrict immigrants’ rights.

Like always, Black Love is Beautiful and the truth is wonderful. The struggle for liberation is not over, but this important story of the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike must be told. In that sense, people can know that economic justice is not only important, but it's a necessity in our world.

By Timothy

Black Lives Matter