AFSCME launches I AM STORY podcast, honors Memphis strike workers
To honor the 55th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., AFSCME is proud to release the “I AM Story” podcast, which describes the working conditions faced by AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee in 1968––the year of their historic strike. The brand new podcast connects that seminal events to today’s struggle for economic and racial justice and spotlights the ties between the labor and civil rights movements.
Episode One––the first of five to be released over the course of the spring––chronicles the degrading working conditions faced by 1,300 Black Memphis sanitation workers. It opens with an account of the horrific deaths of two of their co-workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, in the back of a malfunctioning garbage truck, which sparked the strike. We also learn how AFSCME was there to fight right alongside the workers.
“In order to move forward, we cannot forget what happened in Memphis,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders in a press release announcing the podcast. “The sanitation strikers put their lives on the line for dignity and respect on the job––not just for themselves, but for everyone being mistreated and everyone whose rights were being denied. We will continue to educate our communities and organize around the strikers’ iconic slogan, ‘I AM A MAN,’ which still holds so much power after all these years.”
Listen to the first episode in this historic podcast series now! Click below to find your preferred podcast app. Or subscribe now so you don't miss any future episodes at IAMSTORY.com.