Every third Monday in January we take the time to reflect on the life and influence of Dr. Martin Luther King. While much is made of Dr. King’s dream of racial equality, often forgotten is King’s unrelenting quest for economic justice.

It was his support for Memphis sanitation workers and their strike for higher wages that led Dr. King to Memphis and that fateful day on the Lorraine Motel balcony.   King was critical of America – a wealthy nation home to so many poor.

“… one day we must ask the question, “Why are there forty million poor people in America?” And when you begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth.”

And while we’ve made discernible progress in areas of equality with the election of an African-American President and more college educated Blacks than any time in US history, King’s dream of economic justice has morphed into a freakish nightmare.

Since his death the gap between the rich and poor has reached its highest level since the Great Depression. The top 10% of Americans own 71.5% of all of the nation’s wealth. The bottom 50% own a measly 2.5% of the wealth.

And while Americans have become the most productive workers on the planet, their wages barely budged. According to leading economist and former Clinton labor secretary, Robert Reich, the wages of the average worker have not budged (adjusted for inflation) in 30 years. Yet the the compensation of CEOs has skyrocketed.

Thirty years of union busting and cuts in pensions and health care have taken their toll. Combined with rising prices and the middle class has been dismantled while the ranks of the poor have swelled.

King’s comments during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech ring prophetic,

“The well-off and the secure have too often become indifferent and oblivious to the poverty and deprivation in their midst. The poor in our countries have been shut out of our minds, and driven from the mainstream of our societies, because we have allowed them to become invisible.”

American companies have recently enjoyed record profits while shipping US jobs overseas. The current unemployment rate hovers near 9.4% for America and an astonishing 15.5% for Black America. The African-American poverty rate is above 25%.

Yet the top 2% of the wealthiest Americans have just received a massive tax cut extension. Wall Street bonuses are larger than ever. And things only appear to be getting worse.

Clinging to budget deficit hysteria, this year many in Congress will seek to weaken Social Security by raising the retirement age and cutting benefits. Social Security has for decades protected the most vulnerable among us.

Medicare which provides a much needed safety net for many elderly and disabled African-Americans will also come under fire.

Some in Congress intend to “dismantle” Medicare by turning it into a voucher system. Recipients would receive vouchers that they could use to purchase expensive private insurance.

The problem? While health care costs continue to rise the value of the vouchers will not. As a result,  millions will be left without adequate health care coverage.

These are but a few of the ways in which those in Congress controlled by corporate interests will attempt to shred the social safety net, disenfranchise the poor, and further dismantle the middle class.

Dr. King paid the ultimate sacrifice. He laid his life down fighting for economic justice. If we want to truly honor his legacy we should continue his fight.

Yet, unlike King, we don’t have to walk the streets of Birmingham, Chicago, and Memphis or face an assassin’s bullet. All we have to do is get involved in the political process. Stay informed of the political issues – use our phones, our faxes, and our emails to keep pressure on our politicians to do the right thing.

This is the least we can do for a man who gave so much to so many.

BMWK – Why do you think economic conditions have not improved since Dr. King’s death nearly 42 years ago?