The historical act of civil disobedience that inspires me the most is the Memphis Sanitation Strike.
The strike was during a time of economic injustice and social inequality. Two rubbish collectors, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were killed when using a faulty truck. In response to this 1,300 men went on strike against the unfair and racist treatment they received at sanitation workers. Henry Loab, the Mayor of Memphis refused to pay overtime that the workers were forced to work or risk losing their jobs, and the salary they did receive was so low that many sanitation workers were dependent on food stamps and food aid.
A coalition was made between workers and religious leaders and a union formed to resist the degrading treatment the workers received. They demanded to be treated with dignity and with respect. They wanted to be recognised as being people despite the racism they fell victim to alongside the poor treatment they received for being manual labourers in a job that was considered to be dirty and low-skilled. They decided to march wearing sandwich boards that said, “I am a man”. It was a slogan that cut through racist ideas and addressed their inhuman working conditions. Martin King gave a speech on the dignity of working, saying that “whenever you engage in work that serves humanity it has dignity and it has worth”.
The workers held mass meetings every night and during the day workers and religious leaders marched as well as organising peaceful sit-ins and rallies, they boycotted stores and two newspapers. The strike was declared illegal and police officers used mace, tear gas and batons to try to disperse the peaceful strikers. College and high school students, nearly a quarter of them white, joined the workers strike. On the 28th of March a 22,000 students skipped school to attend a rally but sadly it turned violent, shops were looted and a 16 year old boy was shot dead by a police officer. On the 4th of April Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Four days later Coretta Scott King led 42,000 silent marchers through Memphis in honour of Martin Luther King Jn, and to demand that Loeb give in to the sanitation workers demands.
Fifty six days after the strike started an agreement was formed between the workers and the city of Memphis. The sanitation workers received a ten cent per hour pay increase and were able to move into supervisory positions, new regulations made working safer and the workers union was officially recognised by the City Council.
So what is the difference between food stamps and food aid at that time and the Working Tax Credits supplemented by soup kitchens that are all happening in the UK today?