April 4 Call to Action: We are One

On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, where he had gone to stand with sanitation workers demanding their dream: the right to bargain collectively for a voice at work and a better life. The workers were trying to form a union with AFSCME.

On April 4, 2011, join union members, community activists, people of faith, students, youth, LGBTQ, civil rights, and immigrant rights allies to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for: the freedom to bargain, to vote, to afford a college education and justice for all workers, immigrant and native-born. It’s a day to show movement with actions, teach-ins, worksite discussions, vigils, faith events – a day to be creative, but clear: We are one.

Visit www.we-r-1.org to find a local event, or add your own event to the growing list of activities. Some ideas for action:

• Worksite actions.  Recruit co-workers to carry out a worksite activity - wearing red shirts, ribbons, or stickers – and having a discussion about the attacks on working people at lunch break.
• Organize a teach-in or screening of “At the River I Stand”, which tells the story of the Memphis sanitation workers and Dr. King’s support of their struggle.
• Organize a mobilization or action that links current organizing or bargaining fights with the moment we are in.
• Organize a prayer vigil in front of a symbol that represents Dr. King’s vision of a better world.
• Organize discussions at churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples the weekend before April 4.
• Organize an action with students who are fighting budget battles around education and make link to attack on workers in the public sector.
• Change your Facebook & twitter profile image to the JwJ "We Are One" image

The www.we-r-1.org website has some resources to help you plan your events and check out Jobs with Justice resources including a guerilla theater script, talking points, a video discussion guide, and chants.

It’s time to come together to curb unchecked corporate power.  Who will control our communities: working people or corporations?

In Dr. King’s words:

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.