| JAN. 24, 2008 ARCHIVES |
| A Kingly Celebration A look at our King Holiday traditions |
| I Am A Man: Mr. Eugene Clemons by Fabu we come out of Mississippi seekin more life, good schoolin money to enjoy leavin “nigguh” and sharecroppin behind. at first a Memphis city job was real good best was the benefits what i care i’m a garbage man been cleanin after white folks a long time. trotted eight hours behind a truck white man at the wheel better than a mule’s backside and the chokin dust from dry fields. city money didn’t stop growin shame bile in my throat bein called boy I AM A Man in 1968 I want to drive that garbage truck too. we call on Dr. King for help with the stalled sanitation strike he answered, we marched folks were beaten then he was murdered. Lawd have mercy the price was high for poor, black, mistreated trash men to have the equal right to drive a garbage truck. A note from the poet: I met Mr. Eugene Clemons went he was a striking garbage man in The Sanitation Strike of 1968. I was a little girl when my Mom took us to his home to hear first-hand what was happening with the strike. I remember his eloquence and passion as he talked about their horrible woring conditions and how proud it felt to stand up for himself with other Black men. I also remember Mr. Clemons crying when Dr. King was assassinated. The City of Memphis ended the strike and workers won equal rights but no one wanted the strike to cost Dr. King his life. As a little girl in Memphis, I watched history unfold. |
