NYT Opinion: How Memphis Gave Up on Dr. Kings Dream
The 50th anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination on April 4 should have been an opportunity for the nation — and especially those who live in the city where he was killed — to reckon with the issue that he died fighting for: the right of workers to earn a living wage.
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Is it any wonder that the black-white wealth gap has only widened since the Great Recession? Or that the income gap in the Memphis region has barely budged? Or that campaigns such as Fight for $15, which has raised wages for millions of workers but has stalled in many places, are necessary? Or that the new Poor People’s Campaign is as urgently needed today as the one Dr. King was planning just before he was killed?
It was Dr. King who said: “Many white Americans of good will have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice.” What have we done with Dr. King’s sacrifice? Too little.
Inequality is created and maintained by those who benefit from the labor of underpaid workers. Those people have names. Their names should be known.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/opinion/sunday/martin-luther-king-memphis.html
I found this opinion piece to be a very good, interesting, and enlightening read. I learned about it from watching part of an Yvette Carnell YouTube video.