Causes and Awareness
MLK Reflection 2019
January 15, 2019 marks not only what would have been Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s 90th birthday, but it also marks the 25th day of a U.S. Government shutdown. A shutdown now standing as the longest in U.S. History. We are sure to feel the effects of the our leaders choices for many years to come.
Dr. King was champion of the Labor Movement. Dr. King knew that labor rights are human rights. Therefore, I can’t help but to think what…What would 90 year old Dr. King have to say to us today?
Clarence B. Jones, the former personal counsel, advisor, speechwriter and friend of King, previously offered his personal views about how he thought the civil rights leader would have reacted to the government being shut down.
“He would say that in the common interest of humanity and decency, that we must put aside your partisan, political differences and focus on those programs which will be of the greatest benefit to the people who need benefits,” Jones said in part during a government shutdown in 2013. Excerpt from News One
In The Words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.”
“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
“History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them.”
“All men are interdependent. Every nation is an heir of a vast treasury of ideas and labor to which both the living and the dead of all nations have contributed. Whether we realize it or not, each of us lives eternally 'in the red.' We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women.’
‘Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
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| Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. joins a picket line in support of a strike by the International Chemical Workers Union, Local 754, against discrimination at the Scripto Pen Company, Atlanta, 1964. AFL-CIO Still Images, Photographic Prints Collection via University of Maryland |
Servitude vs Service
The choices of few is leading to nightmares for many. The unmitigated gall to expect people to work without pay with no end in sight is just ludicrous. There is a difference between service and servitude. The President and his administration is enacting involuntary servitude on thousands of federal employees, and that is absolutely wrong. It’s a fact that none of us should be silent about. Federal workers have already suffered immeasurable losses, and will continue as the days pass. Where is the fairness and justice in that?
What concerns me most is the mindset of any person that thinks it is ok to enslave another.
My heart breaks for the over 800,000 federal workers caught in the cross hairs of ego and selfish ambitions.
It is the true spirit of service that will allow us to recover from what may be labeled historically as our darkest hours. We must all see ourselves as agents of change, and continue in the spirit of love and service.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Day of Service is an opportunity for each of us to reflect on the principles of equality and selflessness that Dr. King embodied. Dr. King believed in celebrating and promoting the worth of every person. He championed for diverse cultures to live and thrive together in a spirit of love, understanding and service to one another. Through his example, Dr. King challenged and empowered individuals to take action and lift up their neighbors and communities by volunteering. #LegacyofService | Mission Continues
