Black Workers for Justice, for the past 34 years, has held an annual banquet t
o lift up the role Dr. King played in support of workers across the country as well as in Memphis where he was assassinated. While we all acknowledge on his birthday in January his contribution to the fight to lift the oppressed out of their suffering we have focused on April 4th, the date of his assassination. We feel that it is critical to never lose sight of why he was killed, what he was engaged in and the political and economic forces that wanted to silence him.
The 2021 observation comes at a time of crisis for capitalism: economic disruptions, a public health emergency, white supremacist activities with its continuing and escalating violence against Black people by militarized law enforcement agencies and others. In the wake of the Black led rebellions in the aftermath of the George Floyd and other killings, we 
are also witnessing the effort of the predominately Black workforce at the Amazon plant in Bessemer, Alabama, fight for the right of union representation, safe work and dignity on the job. If we think Bessemer in 2021, we have to think Memphis 1968. The Memphis Sanitation Strike was in the context of the Civil Rights and emerging Black Power Movement and Bessemer is in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. From Memphis to Bessemer and beyond, we lift up the spirit of Dr. King!
BWFJ urges organizations and activists to join us in a week of self-organized activities highlighting Dr. King’s solidarity with labor organizations and the struggle for workers’ rights. From April 4, the date of his murder – April 10, the 100-day marker of the People’s 100 Days of the Southern Movement Assembly’s kick-off of intensified 2021 actions across the US South, BWFJ, friends, allies can engage in a variety of activities in our workplaces, communities and organizations. Especially, lift up Dr. King’s support for labor & Amazon workers at Bessemer.
On April 10 Share your actions with us & the Southern Movement Assembly through pictures, video, online, social media or written summaries
Bessemer is Just the Beginning:
Resist Corporate Power & Build the Southern Movement of Labor & Power!
