“No work is insignificant”

Martin Luther King, Jr. believed that “All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity”

We all know Martin Luther King, Jr. was a great activist — if not one of the most remarkable activists — when it came to race.

But did you know he was also greatly committed to the cause of labor and social inequality? That he mounted a Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, the second phase of the Civil Rights Movement? He was actually shot by a white supremacist when fighting for Memphis city sanitation workers, most of whom were Black. He was going to help them organize a local branch of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

That’s why in a letter to the amalgamated laundry workers, he famously wrote:

As I have said many times, and believe with all my heart, the coalition that can have the greatest impact in the struggle for human dignity here in America is that of the Negro and the forces of labor, because their fortunes are so closely intertwined. (1962)

In fact, he would go on to claim that Blacks and laborers had nearly “identical interests,” observing that :

Labor has grave problems today of employment, shorter hours, old age security, housing and retraining against the impact of automation. The Congress and the Administration are almost as indifferent to labor’s program as they are toward that of the Negro. Toward both they offer vastly less than adequate remedies for the problems which are a torment to us day after day.

Well, guess what? More than sixty years later, we are hardly any better off today. If anything, we may even be taking a considerable step backwards as wages have been stagnating since the 1970s: that is, unless you’re a CEO.

In that case, you’ve made off extremely well, considering that CEO compensation has grown from 20–50x the salary of their average employee in the 1960s to 300x + these days.

“All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”

And the rest of us? Not that well — and George Orwell knew that. But the upper 1% would have you believe that it is YOUR fault that you are not working hard enough. That you don’t deserve well-paying jobs because you didn’t attend a fancy overpriced and overrated university.

In fact, it is difficult for many — privileged or not — to wrap their heads around the idea that work other than professional careers that require multiple degrees is important or meaningful.

That’s why those who are involved in domestic services, manufacturing, sales, transportation, and others are often brushed aside with: “If they are dissatisfied with their pay, why didn’t they study harder and go to college?” “Why don’t they pull themselves up by their bootstraps?” “If they want a Maserati, they should stop buying so much booze.”

Even teachers, armed with at least a bachelor’s and master’s, have incurred no small degree of contempt from these same elitists.

With the meager wages earned by the above-mentioned, many are often forced work second jobs because their incomes are simply not sufficient.

That’s why it’s time for the upper middles and other privileged folks to remember that no one is expendable. Who takes care of your children and cook when you are working at your high and almighty job? Who transports the baby formula and other basic necessities you need?

Learn to treat those you refer to as “menials” and “plebs” with some basic respect. That all of us have our priorities too – families to feed, nurture, and protect.

And remember too that just because you were able to receive a good education doesn’t mean everyone has the same pocketbooks and privilege. This is doubly true if you enjoy white privilege — which unfortunately does exist.

Because with the skyrocketing costs of higher education since the 1990s and the shrinking of Pell grants, college has become far less affordable for the middle classes – to say nothing of those below. Meanwhile, even the Ivies have also become increasingly out of reach for the upper middles.

Contempt is also showered on many ordinary and poor Americans when the privileged ask why can’t these whiners economize? Why don’t they stop wasting money and living on government largesse?

American Horror Story

That’s a rich question indeed when neither political party has addressed the problem of inflation in 2022 and 2023 especially when wages have not kept up with rising prices. If it’s true that inflation has eased just a bit in the last few months, some of us have not felt it at all.

For instance, my electric bill has shot up from $93 in 2021 to $163 in 2022 and 2023 while my average monthly gas bill has gone from $350 to a whopping $550: as such, I’ve had to lower my thermostat from 64F to 61F. (No, I can’t turn it down any further!)

Similarly, my average weekly groceries have gone from $55 to $75. Quotes for a roof replacement have shot through the roof (pun intended) from $20,000 to $50,000 between 2015 and 2024.

And not least, pet food and vet bills have gone up too. My cat Charlie’s favorite Fancy Feast savory centers went up 150% from $21 in 2021 to $32 in 2023! (See my story on vet bills here.)

Nor is my situation unique.

Many are struggling to make ends meet. It’s worth bearing in mind that there has been a significant rise in personal and corporate bankruptcies in 2023. They are expected to continue climbing this year. More Americans are also losing their homes, with scheduled auctions and bank repossessions jumping 10 percent compared to 2022 and 136 percent from 2021.

But I guess our food, gas, and power CEOs must have new mansions, country club fees, boarding school tuition for their families— everyone else’s basic necessities be damned. Mon dieu, they must keep up with old money types, like say the Gilroy-Fitzwilliams (or pick any pretentious double-barrelled Anglo surname). Or Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

Meanwhile, our state and federal legislators don’t care because they want to keep their donors happy in our pay-to-play state of political funding. As Joe Biden promised his billionaire donors, “Nothing will fundamentally change.”

That’s because fellow 1%ers know just how utterly tragic life is without season sports tickets, bimonthly jaunts to Europe, and lacrosse equipment for the spawn. They too are eagerly buying into the “old money” trends that are raging all over Tiktok an Instagram, aspiring to look and live like the characters of Succession, Downton Abbey, or The Crown.

So next time a privileged neoliberal asks you why you aren’t better educated and earning more and complaining about inflation, ask him or her why they insist on cutting expenses for education and why student loans are so exorbitant.

And next time that privileged neoliberal accuses you of living beyond your means, perhaps shaming you for relying on government assistance, ask him or her why they don’t point to the CEOs and other 1%ers who pay disproportionately fewer taxes – and sometimes even zero! Why are they not focusing their ire on the TRUE welfare queens, trophy wives flitting from charity ball to charity ball in their $15,000 Oscar de la Renta gowns, $1000 Louboutins, $30,000 Tiffany earrings, and $5000 Leiber evening bags?

Because let’s face it, it is the rest of us who are paying for their lavish lifestyles with our taxes!

Not least, I won’t even get into the fact that the top 1% leave a far greater carbon footprint than the rest of us in their multiple mansions, giant SUV’s, sports cars, yachts, and private jets: this could be a book in itself. These are the people who are actively destroying our planet while exacerbating the climate change in the shape of tornadoes, hurricanes, and other supersized storms which are endangering lives and wreaking havoc on our property. (Have you checked your rising home insurance lately?)

Dreaming of a New Party

Like Martin Luther King, I have a dream too. That’s why I’d like to propose a new party: a party that will actively redress class and race inequities so everyone has a slice of the American dream. So that we can all live safely and without undue stress.

I dream of a party that will actually be in touch with the people – unlike our current GOP and Dem parties. One that will raise much needed taxes on the 1% as did presidents FDR through Eisenhower. One that will keep an eye on raising minimum wage as was done in the 1950s and ’60s (Piketty 2017). One that will know how to address inflation at least as well as FDR or Nixon– which NEITHER party did in 2022 and 2023.

And yes, a party that will restore diversity, equity and inclusion measures for those of us who are visible minorities: after all, we are still largely underpaid and under promoted. Inflation has taken a larger toll on us.

Because as MLK pointed out at an Illinois AFL-CIO Convention in 1965 — nearly 60 years ago — it is up to the people and their unions to promote change. It is time to realize that none of our political parties or the 1%, “the captains of industry,” which backs them are gonna do it for you:

The labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress. Out of its bold struggles, economic and social reform gave birth to unemployment insurance, old age pensions, government relief for the destitute, and above all new wage levels that meant not mere survival, but a tolerable life. The captains of industry did not lead this transformation; they resisted it until they were overcome. When in the thirties the wave of union organization crested over our nation, it carried to secure shores not only itself but the whole society.

We need to examine our politicians more carefully. Why do we need to vote for those who have done little to nothing to alleviate problems for ordinary Americans? Those letting inflation and interest rates roar unimpeded? With houses priced well out of reach of middle and lower class families — so that even upper middles are contemplating renting instead?

I also believe that when people feel more secure and stable, there will be less resentment across the board. Because your middle-school social studies teacher was correct when s/he claimed that “people vote with their pocketbooks.” When we feel that we are being unjustly deprived, we can only feel antagonistic towards each other.

All told, let’s look at some of MLK’s words to the Teamsters and Allied Trade Councils from 1967:

Today Negroes want above all else to abolish poverty in their lives, and in the lives of the white poor. This is the heart of their program. To end humiliation was a start, but to end poverty is a bigger task. It is natural for Negroes to turn to the Labor movement because it was the first and pioneer anti-poverty program. It will not be easy to accomplish this program because white America has had cheap victories up to this point… The real cost lies ahead. To enable the Negro to catch up, to repair the damage of centuries of denial and oppression means appropriations to create jobs and job training; it means the outlay of billions for decent housing and equal education.

Perhaps as such, Blacks, browns, yellows and whites, will live together more peacefully. That’s why it’s high time to pull the plug on useless political parties that are doing nothing for us. And maybe then we can truly begin to realize what Martin Luther King dreamed of:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

For more on class, race, and inequality, see:

Recommended reading:

Frances Chiu. 2020. The Routledge Guidebook to Paine’s Rights of Man. Abingdon: Routledge. See the Conclusion.

Thomas Piketty. 2017. Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Harvard Belknap Press.

This story was inspired by Toni The Talker and her list of important MLK quotations.