Martin Luther King, Teachers' Unions and Social Justice
As the nation prepares to mark what would have been the 87th birthday of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, we should remember Dr. King as a staunch supporter of both public education and organized labor. This is especially important as teachers in cities across the nation including Chicago and Detroit, weigh the necessity of civil disobedience and work stoppages to raise awareness and encourage a fair resolution to their concerns.
While teachers unions have been vilified for taking these steps, the actions of labor leaders such as Chicago Teachers Union head Karen Lewis are more in line with those taken by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King in his quest to vanquish what he once described as the triple evils of poverty, racism and militarism. These are problems that residents of inner cities like Chicago and Detroit know all too well. The Chicago Teachers Union, for example, linked its opposition to Mayor Rahm Emanuel to the mayor's handling of the police shooting of 17 year-old Laquan McDonald in which city officials have been accused of withholding information including video of the killing to ensure that their release did not negatively impact Emanuel's reelection bid. Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke was recently charged with first-degree murder in the killing of McDonald, an unarmed 17-year-old who was shot 16 times by the officer as he walked down the middle of the street. McDonald's case is not the only time educators weighed in on controversial police killings either.
In recent years, educators have had to resort to acts of civil disobedience in order to make the public aware of a variety of issues from over testing of students, cuts to special education instruction, and unfair labor contracts. Union members often face significant consequences for their actions including harassment and termination. These problems are not new. In September of 1978, for instance, teachers in a number Martin Luther King, Teachers' Unions and Social Justice | Yohuru Williams:
