By JANE LaTOUR

DC 37 members packed the hall January 9 to celebrate the legacy of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was under Dr. King’s leadership that the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956 forced the U.S. Supreme Court to declare Alabama’s segregation laws unconstitutional. On April 4, 1968, he was slain in Memphis, where he was supporting striking AFSCME sanitation workers.

The event, sponsored by DC 37’s Political Action Committee, brought out members like Jewel Rankin, a member of Board of Education Employees Local 372, a shop steward and a member of the PAC. “Dr. King stood for the rights of everyone, especially the rights of working people,” she observed.

Benjamin Clinkscales, a member of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549, was proud to be a part of the celebration. “Dr. King brought the gospel of social change for people of color and people in general. But we still have a long way to go. The main thing is to keep the light shining,” he said.

PAC Chair Leonard Allen moderated the King commemoration and the committee’s first business meeting of the year. Lillian Roberts, DC 37 executive director greeted the gathering and asked for solidarity in the union’s struggles to preserve jobs.

The Rev. Herbert Daughtry, pastor of the House of the Lord Church, began his talk on the theme of “Labor Looks to the Future and Challenges Ahead” by posing the question: “How can we make our union better so we can make the world better? The labor movement and the nation are facing hard times.”

Pointing to higher unemployment levels within the African American community, he said: “When the nation sneezes, black people get pneumonia.” The storm clouds of war are gathering and the future looks bleak, he observed. “These are times of crisis. We all — the unions, the churches — should have a crisis response. We can create the movement that will make change.”

Candles were then lit and held aloft as Local 1549 retiree Margaret Williams led the group in singing the civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.”