We Were One on April 4

April 2011

We Are One was a nationwide day of solidarity with nurses and other union members whose collective bargaining rights, contracts, wages and voice in the workplace are under attack across the country. The events were held on April 4 to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, whose last act was standing with striking AFSCME sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

In Los Angeles UNAC/UHCP nurses joined 2,200 other union and community members at First AME Church in the evening, where Wisconsin bratwurst was served and the Brookinaires Gospel Choir filled the church with beautiful music. Two men addressed the crowd who had been with Dr. King in Memphis in 1968, helping to organize the sanitation: Bill Lucy, retired AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer, and Reverend James Lawson, the longtime Los Angeles community leader who helped King develop his philosophy of non-violent resistance. Maria-Elena Durazo, Secretary-Treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, who organized the event, also spoke.

In Orange County, UNAC/UHCP members began their day with a breakfast remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sponsored by the Orange County Labor Federation.

In San Diego UNAC/UHCP State Secretary Barbara Blake and other UNAC/UHCP members gathered at Civic Center Plaza in the evening to show their support for the rights of working families throughout the country. The San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Federation coordinated that event.