Dr. King, continued
The day after the MLK holiday, and Bob Herbert of the New York Times has an op-ed on King, concluding that King’s “long campaign for economic justice has been all but forgotten.”
The irony is that Herbert seems to have forgotten King’s emphasis on guaranteed income in addition to jobs. Here are the last few paragraphs.
Speaking about one of his many antipoverty initiatives, Dr. King told Look magazine in 1968: “We called our demonstration a campaign for jobs and income because we felt that the economic question was the most crucial that black people, and poor people generally, were confronting.”
That was then. The loudest voices against poverty and economic injustice of all kinds have long since faded. The government, reclining comfortably on a vast cushion of campaign contributions, has allied itself with big business and the big banks against the interests of ordinary Americans. Millions upon millions of families are suffering, but mostly in silence.
We honor Dr. King with a national holiday, but his long campaign for economic justice has been all but forgotten.
Here’s Herbert’s complete piece.
Guaranteed income is necessary. That’s the only way to ensure dignity for all. There will never be enough jobs for everyone because in most situations employers profit by cutting jobs, not creating them. I present that logic in more detail in Peaceful, Positive Revolution: Economic Security for Every American.
Steven Shafarman
Tags: financial crisis, jobs, Martin Luther King, Peaceful Positive Revolution, unemployment