{"id":2733,"date":"2018-01-15T15:19:15","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T20:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=2733"},"modified":"2018-01-15T15:19:15","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T20:19:15","slug":"martin-luther-king-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/15\/martin-luther-king-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Luther King Died Defending Workers: Honor Him With a Moment of Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"afscme\"The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is asking the entire union to join with their members in Memphis in observing a moment of silence on\u00a0February 1, 2018 t<\/span>o honor the 50th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary of the tragic events that touched off the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers\u2019 Strike, where King was killed.<\/p>\n

And we here at Confined Space invite all of you to join in or organize your own event<\/a>. There’s a media tool kit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most Americans probably forget that King was killed defending workers’ rights. And even fewer probably know that the strike was sparked by the gruesome deaths of sanitation workers\u00a0Echol Cole and Robert Walker, AFSCME Local 1733 members.\u00a0On February 1, 1968, a rainstorm forced Cole and Walker to seek shelter in the back of their antiquated truck. The workers\u2019 repeated warnings to management had been ignored until that day when a short caused the truck\u2019s compactor to kick on, crushing the two men to death.\u00a0They were 36 and 30 years old, respectively.<\/p>\n

Few know that the Memphis sanitation workers strike was sparked by the gruesome deaths of sanitation workers\u00a0Echol Cole and Robert Walker, AFSCME Local 1733 members<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As Taylor Branch wrote in\u00a0On Canaan\u2019s Edge,\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\u201cIt was a gruesome chore to retrieve the two crushed bodies from the garbage packer and pronounce them dead at John Gaston Hospital. Echol Cole and Robert Walker soon became the anonymous cause that diverted Martin Luther King to Memphis for his last march. City flags flew at half-mast for them, but they never were public figures like\u00a0Lisa Marie Presley, whose birth at 5:01 PM was being announced. . . . Cole and Walker would not be listed among civil rights martyrs, nor studied like\u00a0Rosa Parks\u00a0as the catalyst for a new movement. Their fate was perhaps too lowly and pathetic.\u201d<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

AFSCME President Lee Saunders relates, “Their coworkers decided they had had enough. They voted to strike, and despite facing racial hatred and disrespect, they bravely continued their strike for more than two months. They were supported by their AFSCME sisters and brothers from across the country, and by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who traveled to Memphis to march in solidarity, where he ultimately gave his life for their cause.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is asking the entire union to join with their members in Memphis in observing a moment of silence on\u00a0February 1, 2018 to honor the 50th\u00a0anniversary of the tragic events that touched off the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers\u2019 Strike, where King was killed. And we here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[155],"class_list":["post-2733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-tennessee"],"yoast_head":"\nMartin Luther King Died Defending Workers: Honor Him With a Moment of Silence - Confined Space<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The sanitation workers strike that led to the death of Martin Luther King was sparked by the deaths of two workers in the back of a garbage truck.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/01\/15\/martin-luther-king-died\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Martin Luther King Died Defending Workers: Honor Him With a Moment of Silence - 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