My intro for the Dr. King film at the Veterans Home earlier today

[Omaha Steve]

My name is Steve. I’m a shop steward for AFSCME Local 251.

On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support AFSCME sanitation workers. That evening, he delivered his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech to a packed room of supporters. The next day, he was assassinated.

(Photo flashed on screen while speaking the above paragraph)

In 1980 I was fired illegally for union organizing. My NLRB case went to an administrative law judge. He ruled against me. It was appealed to the NLRB board. They found in my favor. The employer appealed to the St. Louis Court of Appeals. My case was upheld.

The board member that really won my case was Mr. NLRB Howard Jenkins Jr. In 62 , Bobby Kennedy had had talks with Dr. King about how to integrate the Federal Government. Dr. King suggested a young Jr. Lawyer in the Labor Dept. It turned heads when a black man was nominated. He was also a Republican. Jenkins stayed through five different Presidents. Mine was one of his last written opinions before he retired. That suggestion from Dr. King was made when I was only five years old. I get excited every year to celebrate the MLK holiday because of what his suggestion did for me.

I close with these lines from Dr. King’s last speech

““You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor. So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.”

AFSCME Memphis Sanitation Strike, April 3, 1968

[lamp_shade]

1. Nice, Steve. You have quite a story to tell.

[w8liftinglady]

2. That is awesome-you are one brave guy