The Dallas AFL-CIO contingent in the Jan. 18 Martin Luther King March & Parade is a model for building the progressive coalition America needs. At its core was organized labor.
There were 20 marchers and 10 others escaping the cold in vehicles. A United Auto Worker (UAW) memeber volunteered his wonderfully decorated float, the Communications Workers had a pickup truck, and the Labor Council’s 12-passenger van brought up the rear. The van had been bought by the principal officer in order to reach out further across the vast Lone Star State.
Besides the six or seven unions represented, there were several seniors from the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans. The Young Active Labor Leaders (YALL), union and non-union, brought the most bodies into the contingent. Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Communist Party USA (CPUSA) members, union and non-union, were interspersed with the main union-affiliated youth group.
The contingent had an important gesture for electoral politics. Activists from Dallas County Democrats made up the rest of the contingent. Leading them was newly-elected (with labor’s support) Congresswoman Julie Johnson.
Banners blared the names of the participating organizations, but the hand-made signs of the youthful marchers displayed quotes from Dr King. Some of the quotes included:
“Capitalism was built on the exploitation and suffering of Black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both Black and white, both here and abroad” —Three Evils of Society Speech 1967).
“The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress” —speech at an AFL-CIO convention in 1965
“The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization…The time has come to civilize ourselves by the total, direct, and immediate abolition of poverty.” —From his book, Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community 1967
“Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.” —speech to Negro American Labor Council 1961
“If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell.” —“Why America May Go to Hell” speech 1968
Marchers from YALL held up these signs and read them off the bullhorn while everyone marched. Other marchers also chanted labor union strike chants, such as, “Exploitation ain’t the way! Workers gotta get a fair pay!” “When a livable wage is under attack! What do we do? Stand up, fight back!” “Ain’t no power like the power of the union, ‘cause the power of the union don’t stop!” “Up, Up with the Workers! Yeah, Yeah! Down, down with the bosses, boo, boo!” “When I say, “union,” you say “power!” Union! Power!” and, “Free, Free Palestine!”
It was noted that labor being part of this movement was a continuation of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign, as Dr. King was assassinated while in Memphis at a Sanitation Workers strike. The Dallas Labor contingent displayed how civil rights and the labor movement belong together.
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