Sen. McCain’s speech today honoring Dr. King simply didn’t ring true. The fact is, on jobs, health care, wages and many other issues, the policies Sen. McCain supports are in direct contrast to Dr. King’s vision of economic equality.
Sen. McCain rightly paid tribute to Dr. King’s legacy on civil rights. What Sen. McCain left out of his address today is that Dr. King was a steadfast, passionate advocate of living wages for all, respect on the job and in life, and above all, equality. The failed Bush Administration economic policies Sen. McCain supports don’t live up to Dr. King’s basic teachings.
Dr. King led the fight against starvation wages, yet, just a year ago, Sen. McCain voted against an increase in the minimum wage and even moved to abolish it completely. Dr. King said injustice in health care is “the most shocking and inhumane” of all inequalities, yet Sen. McCain has shown no interest in providing health care for the 47 million Americans without coverage. Dr. King strongly supported unions as a means to lift our nation’s workers out of poverty and give them the opportunity for a better life. Sen. McCain has voted against workers’ freedom to form unions and collective bargaining rights for our nation’s first responders.
Today, on the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, civil and workers’ rights activists stand hand in hand, in the shadow of Dr. King, struggling for economic justice and equality. Just today it was reported that our nation lost 80,000 jobs last month, the third straight month the economy has shed jobs and the largest single month decline in more than five years. Sen. McCain supports unbalanced trade policies that send our good jobs overseas and have left millions of America’s workers struggling to find their way in an economy that has turned against them.
In a time when African Americans are twice as likely to be unemployed than the average American, that struggle continues to be as important today as it was the day Dr. King was tragically taken from us in Memphis, supporting sanitation workers’ struggle to form a union.
Today we remember that Dr. King’s fight is our fight still. America’s workers are looking for bold leadership and fresh vision to turn our economy around and give all workers the opportunity and freedom to forge a better life.
Contacts: Steve Smith/Alison Omens 202-637-5018
