Honoring the Life and Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, as we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we must remember that his dream was not only about racial harmony—it was about economic justice, workers’ rights, and the dignity of every human being. Dr. King stood with sanitation workers in Memphis because he understood that racial justice and economic justice are inseparable. He knew that poverty, exploitation, and inequality were all part of the same system that thrives on dividing working people.

Yet today, Dr. King’s message is being rewritten and sanitized by the very forces that would have stood against him. His name is often used to promote unity without justice, peace without equity, and progress without accountability. And while his image is celebrated, the struggles he fought for fair wages, safe working conditions, and racial equality—are still far from realized.

We also cannot ignore the growing attacks on immigrants, who are being scapegoated for the failures of an economy rigged against working people. This divisive rhetoric is designed to weaken us—to make us forget that an injury to one is an injury to all. Immigrant workers are not the problem; they are our siblings in the struggle, standing beside us every day in hospitals, care homes, fields, warehouses, and offices.

Dr. King reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” But that arc does not bend by itself—it bends because we pull it. Together. Through our collective power as workers. Through our solidarity across race, background, and origin.

So today, let’s recommit to his fight—for economic justice, for racial justice, for immigrant justice, and for the soul of our labor movement.

Let’s stand up, speak out, and organize.

Because when we fight together, we win together.

One for all, all for one.

Ibrahim Coulibaly
Senior Civil Rights Investigator, Bureau of Labor and Industries
President of SEIU 839, Bureau of Labor and Industries
President of SEIU International Western Region African American Caucus
Co-Chair of SEIU 503 Civil and Human Rights Committee
Co-Chair of SEIU 503 Immigration and Citizenship Committee