News 2006
 |
Home About Us | Programs & Services | News & Events | Publications | Giving & Funding | Press Room |
|
You are viewing archive.uua.org. Visit the new UUA.org! News & Events Home
|
Kennedy Keynotes Greater Boston Martin Luther King Day Living Wage Event
US Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) was the keynote speaker for the greater Boston area's January 16 Martin Luther King Day celebration in support of a living wage. The event, which was part of the "Let Justice Roll" The New England Conservatory's Millennium Gospel Choir under the direction of Patricia Dance and Renese King, opened the program, and the Rev. Sheldon Bennett, minister of the Quincy UU congregation, welcomed the audience and led them in prayer. The Hon. William J. Phelan of Quincy brought greetings to the audience, as did the Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, Pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church and President of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO). Hamilton, noting GBIO's role in working for health care and economic justice, reminded the audience, "Martin Luther King died in Memphis marching with sanitation workers who were seeking economic justice. This means that economic justice is inextricably bound to racial justice." For this reason, Hamilton noted, the GBIO has continued to fight for affordable, accessible health care, because it is both a moral issue and an economic issue. "It is a moral issue because it is wrong to pass by a half million people who do not have health care in this state, knowing that we have the resources to do something about it...that is morally wrong. It is an economic issue because legislators – and many others - can pay for their health care... [and] the half million who can't pay for it [are left out]...so it is an economic issue. On this day," said Hamilton, "I challenge our legislators to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King: if you want to be part of integration history, integrate those who do not have health care into the health care system, and let justice roll down like waters, and freedom like a mighty stream." Dr. Charlie Clements spoke on behalf of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the UU Service Committee (which he serves as President). Clements recalled Dr. King's remarkable speech, in which he said:
Clements said, "When people are not paid a living wage [it impacts every part of their life]...when they try to provide for their families on $5.15 an hour...or $215 a week, they have two jobs, and if the person has a partner, that person has two jobs. So you work every day, and if your daughter has a fever, you go the emergency room, and you have to take a taxi because you can't get a travel voucher, and then you notice that your son has blisters on his feet because his shoes no longer fit...this is what it is like to not earn a living wage." Clements continued, "a living wage has been shown to improve a worker's credit, to reduce workers' use of social service, temporary assistance to needy families, and Medicaid. It has put money into the pocket of workers that is almost always put back into the economy." Clements introduced Senator Edward M. Kennedy, observing, "When the history books are written, they will no doubt describe Senator Kennedy as the best and most effective Senator of the last 100 years. You can measure his effectiveness with the regularity that the right attacks him. There are too few heroes...and this man consistently stands up for those who have no health insurance, defends the dignity and worth of every person regardless of their abilities, and champions for immigrants." Kennedy moved to the podium and reflected on the work of Dr. King, saying, "Before he left for Montgomery and began a new dawn in the civil rights movement, his faith was the foundation of the great dream he had. In the course of his all too brief life, he showed us that we could dream the impossible dream and make it come true. On the steps of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, he called for America to come to the reality of NOW, to open the doors to all of God's children, to lift our children to the solid rock of brotherhood. "Justice for the poor was an indispensable part of [Martin Luther King, Jr's] dream... [he taught us that] exploitation of the poor to benefit others was wrong...he was an advocate for all those who needed help the most. Were he here, he would remind us of the fierce urgency of now...for now is the time to raise the minimum wage." Read additional remarks made by Senator Kennedy. Kennedy's remarks were greeted with cheers and a standing ovation. He was followed by Rocio Saenz, president of SEIU, the Service Workers' Union. Saenz led a campaign for Justice for Janitors in Los Angeles in 1998, and led a similar campaign in Boston in 2003 which led to a month-long strike and an historic settlement. Saenz said, "When the sanitation workers went on strike, they were dying on the job, and they were dying with no respect for being human. And when sanitation workers went on strike they were saying ‘enough is enough.' Workers who mop the floors of our buildings, who guard our buildings, who empty the trash or pick up the garbage, they are saying ‘enough' to poverty wages, the lack of respect, the bad working conditions. No matter what people do—whether they take care of the elderly, or they are teachers, or they make the beds in our hotels—people who do work should be rewarded, and rewarded with a living wage. "As we know today, working families are under attack, and have to work more than ever to make ends meet. There are more layoffs, more threats to job security...wages and benefits are going down. Tomorrow you want to have a future for kids—hope—and that is going down too. There is something wrong when workers and security officers can't earn a living wage. Security is one of the ten fastest growing industries in the United States ...and when people have to come home and make difficult choices, they have to suffer." Saenz related the story of a security officer who had a heart attack after he stopped taking his heart medicine because he could not afford it. She concluded her speech saying, "When workers, janitors, and hotel workers talk about just wages and working conditions...that means thousands of fathers and mothers can bring in a pay check they can be proud of. I think the mission of our union is the mission of all of us. We all are working together, and let justice roll!" Saenz introduced Marguerita Restrepo, a shop steward who works in a Boston area hospital. Restrepo shared her story of working as a janitor in a high rise building and now in a hospital, and of her struggle to receive health insurance. She said, "I eat check by check, worrying about whether I will be able to pay the rent. I worry that one of my kids might get sick. I always dream about a better future for them." Restrepo and Saenz were followed by Wayne Smith, a member of the UU Service Committee staff, and Maude Hurd, National President of ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Hurd, who serves ACORN as president without compensation said, "We can't rest yet. This year, with the help of our allies in labor and religion, we are putting a minimum wage increase on the ballot in Arizona, Michigan, Ohio, and Colorado. The commitment demonstrated, here, today, will make this work for all of us. Make no mistake: together we are building a national campaign to raise the minimum wage. As long as our elected officials fail us, we will continue to organize in our neighborhoods, our communities, our churches, and we will take this to the people. Let justice roll now!" The Rev. Robert Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, USA, closed the speaking program. Edgar, a former six-term US Representative and former president of Claremont School of Theology, directs the "Let Justice Roll" program through the NCC. He said, "[The need for a living wage] is not only a moral issue, but it may be for our time in history in this nation...this is a time for us to speak out for the 37 million who are without health care...and for the children who are at risk." Edgar recalled Dr. King's visit to Edgar's theological school. Dr. King was "passionate not just about the poor but about peace. In a book called Where Do We Go from Here Dr. King said, ‘we are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today...and there is such a thing as being too late...we are faced with the urgency of now. In this unfolding time, we must act. ...Time rushes on...and here are written the words, too late.' [But] it is not too late for us to take back the agenda of this nation...it is not too late for us to stop pre-emptive wars, to stand up and speak out when others wants us to be silent, to be committed to not only lift the minimum wage, but a living wage. If you work the minimum wage, you make five thousand dollars less than the poverty level. God calls us to be more courageous, more out there. "Dr. King said we will have to repent in this generation," Edgar concluded, "not only for the hateful words of people, but for the appalling silence of good people. It was Desmond Tutu who said, if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." An offering was taken to benefit the Let Justice Roll effort, resulting in contributions of more than $1,800. Rev. Bennett closed the gathering by quoting the words of Unitarian Theodore Parker, which were later echoed by Martin Luther King: "the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." Bennett said, "There is nothing but a lack of social vision that prohibits us from paying everyone a living wage. Let us got forward with the vision and the resolve to bend the arc of the universe toward wages that are just." Congregations Participate in Let Justice Roll MLK Events Unitarian Universalists Call for a Just Minimum Wage on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Media Coverage
| |||||||||||||
|
Home | About Us | Programs & Services | News & Events | Publications | Giving & Funding | Press Room
Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Search | Site Map
Unitarian Universalist Association
|
Living Wage Day campaign across the US, was held at United First Parish Church Unitarian in Quincy, Massachusetts. Also in attendance were US Cong. William Delahunt (D-MA), State Senator Michael W. Morrisey, State Rep. Bruce J. Ayers, State Rep. Shirley Owens-Hicks, Quincy City Council President Douglas S. Gutro, and more than four hundred community activists, members of the interfaith clergy, and citizens who wished to honor Dr. King's work for economic justice and equality.
