King’s turn towards class politics also contributed to the decline of his influence. Historian Michael Honey wrote of the close associates who had soldiered with him in dangerous regions where Jim Crow still ruled the roost. “They had spent their lives in the civil rights movement and the black church. Now King called on them to organise a new multiracial constituency around class issues among Mexican Americans, Indians, and poor whites as well as African Americans....Almost alone, King had to convince not only the civil rights community and a broader public, but also his own reluctant staff members, that they could organise the poor.” King had travelled to Memphis to try to energise a faltering strike by sanitation workers. By this stage a national poll indicated that 57 percent of African Americans considered him “irrelevant”, while 14 per cent had no view on whether he was or not. At a rally on April 3rd, King told the strikers to ignore a ban on a march planned for four days hence, drawing a comparison with the direct action victory in Birmingham, Alabama, four years earlier. That spirit had to be rekindled. “The issue is injustice, the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now we are going to march again... Very interesting article, definitely worth a read.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:29:23 +0000