Martin Luther King at Local 1199

[Omaha Steve]

Run time: 07:57 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBodqhUGoq0   Posted on YouTube: August 08, 2006 By YouTube Member: Homefront Views on YouTube: 18080   Posted on DU: March 21, 2011 By DU Member: Omaha Steve Views on DU: 201

 

Apparently Fox News couldn't find this video.

http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/fox-news-cavuto-claims-mlk-jr-was-not-a-supporter-of-unions-video

Fox News' Cavuto claims MLK Jr. was not a supporter of unions (Video)

* March 19th, 2011 1:05 pm ET

Yesterday Fox News' Neil Cavuto strongly criticized the AFL-CIO for planning an protest in remembrance of the death of Martin Luther King Jr. The AFL-CIO is calling for nationwide protests in support of the same cause the Martin Luther King Jr. "gave his life for." Cavuto and his guest, Lisa Fritsch, claim that the use of MLK as inspiration for a labor rally is "a little weird." Fritsch, a Tea Party activist, goes as far as to say that the unions are trying to "twist and pervert" the message of Martin Luther King Jr., and that the unions are "corrupt" and "immoral" in their pursuits unlike King.

What never gets mentioned in the middle of the five-minute segment is the fact that MLK was assassinated while on a trip in support of a public employees' union strike in Memphis. King was a fierce supporter up, literally, until the day he died, yet this fact never gets referenced in the interview.

In 1968 King recognized that equal opportunity would require more than just political rights, and subsequently started the "Poor People's Campaign." In 1968, the year he was assassinated, King was planning another historical march on Washington D.C. to demand economic aid for the poorest communities in America. King's "I Have a Dream Speech" was part of an event called "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom."

Many have noted that King's message likely would have been called socialist, and even been put on Glenn Beck's chalkboard today. King strongly criticized the gap between the rich and poor in America saying,

"True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth."

King called on not just the churches to help the poor, but also on the government to provide solutions,

"The problem indicates that our emphasis must be twofold: We must create full employment, or we must create incomes. People must be made consumers by one method or the other. Once they are placed in this position, we need to be concerned that the potential of the individual is not wasted. New forms of work that enhance the social good will have to be devised for those for whom traditional jobs are not available... Work of this sort could be enormously increased, and we are likely to find that the problem of housing, education, instead of preceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty is first abolished. The poor, transformed into purchasers, will do a great deal on their own to alter housing decay. Negroes, who have a double disability, will have a greater effect on discrimination when they have the additional weapon of cash to use in their struggle."