[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 30 (Thursday, February 15, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1155-S1156]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MEMPHIS SANITATION WORKERS STRIKE

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, 1968 was a tumultuous year. Violent 
protests erupted in cities across the country. Both Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Jr., and then-Senator and Presidential candidate Robert F. 
Kennedy were assassinated, and American soldiers were fighting in the 
Vietnam war.
  In Memphis, TN, African-American sanitation workers had faced years 
of hazardous working conditions and discrimination in pay and benefits. 
Their strike would become a historic event in the civil rights 
movement.
  In January 1968, the workers began negotiating with Memphis Mayor 
Henry Loeb and the Memphis City Council to improve pay and working 
conditions.
  On February 1, 1968, two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert 
Walker, sought shelter from the pouring rain and were crushed to death 
in their garbage truck when the compactor on the truck malfunctioned. 
Their deaths galvanized the 1,300 African-American sanitation workers 
who decided to begin their strike to protest working conditions on 
February 12, 1968.
  The workers demanded recognition of their union, increased pay, and 
safer working conditions. Mayor Loeb and the city council responded by 
threatening to replace the striking workers unless they returned to 
work.
  Throughout February and early March, negotiations continued, and on 
March 28, 1968, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rev. James Lawson 
led a march from the Clayborn Temple that ended with rioting, arrests, 
and the death of 16-year-old Larry Payne. Civil rights leaders vowed to 
march again, focusing on the principles of nonviolence.
  On April 3, 1968, Dr. King addressed a rally of 10,000 African-
American workers and residents, members of the clergy, and union 
members at the Mason Temple--the Memphis headquarters of the Church of 
God in Christ. His speech included these lines:

       I have been to the mountain top. . . . I've seen the 
     Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you 
     to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the 
     Promised Land.

  That was Dr. Martin Luther King.
  The next day, April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated as he stood on 
a balcony at the Lorraine Motel.
  On April 8, 1968, 4 days later, 42,000 people marched in Memphis. The 
strike was resolved on April 16. The 1,300 sanitation workers in 
Memphis took a stand for freedom, and they displayed courage in their 
pursuit of equality.
  In his speech on April 3, Dr. King said:

       Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march 
     again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be--
     and force everybody to see that there are 1,300 of God's 
     children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going 
     through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is 
     going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to 
     the nation: We know how it's coming out. For when people get 
     caught up with that which is right and they are willing to 
     sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of 
     victory.

  Now, 50 years later, this resolution that I, Senator Jones, Senator 
Cardin, and Senator Corker submitted seeks to recognize their sacrifice 
and contributions to the civil rights movement.
  It is important that our children grow up learning about how these 
1,300 Memphis sanitation workers and many others struggled for racial 
justice in the midst of all that chaos. That is why, on Tuesday, I 
submitted the Senate resolution to which I referred. I did it, along 
with U.S. Senator Bob Corker, my colleague from Tennessee; Senator Doug 
Jones from Alabama; and Senator Ben Cardin from Maryland, to recognize 
the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike.
  Representative Steve Cohen has submitted the same resolution in the 
U.S. House of Representatives. He recruited 76 cosponsors.
  I would like to thank Representative Cohen for taking the lead in the 
House. I would like to thank my Tennessee colleagues, Representatives 
Black, Blackburn, Cooper, DesJarlais, Duncan, Fleischmann, Kustoff, and 
Roe for their support as well.
  I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this resolution.

[[Page S1156]]

  The majority leader has asked me to make some concluding remarks.

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