On the evening of April 4th, 2017, 100 labor and civil rights activists filled the historic church at Hayti Heritage Center in Durham to both commemorate the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and renew their commitment to King’s dream by holding a field hearing for low-wage workers. Hosted by Raise up for $15 in conjunction with the North Carolina NAACP and the Movement for Black Lives, the event stressed the need to fight racism through unionization and organized labor.
The Workers Rights Hearings sought to commemorate the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by elevating workers and their sentiments. Dr. King was assassinated while striking with Memphis sanitation workers, and this event sought to remind everyone of the importance of organized labor to achieving racial justice. While many have tried to sanitize King's theorizing and actions, the Fight for $15, in conjunction with the NC NAACP and the Movement for Black Lives, made sure that his focus on structural inequality rather than interpersonal bias was not forgotten. The event sought to highlight the intersectional oppression that King fought against and that can still be found in North Carolina's labor force today. The food industry is Durham's largest low-wage sector, and it runs on the underpaid labor of a largely Black and largely female labor force. Thus, the event sought to highlight that the same injustices spotlighted by King, as white supremacy is not abstract-- it is a system that is materially-enforced and can be seen right in North Carolina's eateries.