Make Economic Justice MLK's Next Legacy

If you do nothing else today to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., call your Kentucky legislators and tell them to raise the minimum wage and reform Kentucky's regressive tax system to make the rich pay their fair share and support working people.

Tom Eblen at the Herald:

On this national holiday honoring the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., it is worth remembering that he focused on more than racial justice. The next big issue on his agenda was economic justice.

King was murdered in 1968 while in Memphis to help striking sanitation workers get better pay and treatment. At the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where King delivered his "I have a Dream" speech, one of the key issues was raising the minimum wage enough to lift many workers out of poverty.

While America has made great strides in racial equality and opportunity, it finds itself in a similar economic situation to what those marchers faced 50 years ago. The income of the wealthiest Americans has soared over the past three decades, while middle-class wages have stagnated and many low-wage workers have fallen into poverty.