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African-Americans and Latinos comprise an overwhelming majority of the workforce in low-wage industries like fast food. Image courtesy of Twitter.

The Black Lives Matter movement is looking to tackle yet another social justice issue: fair, livable wages.

A band of Black Lives Matter groups and the organization leading the charge for the $15-per-hour minimum wage are teaming up to continue the struggle for racial justice and economic equality. Just as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought to connect the two pressing issues in his final years of life, BLM and the Fight for $15 are set to launch their first nationwide joint action on Tuesday, April 4.

The groups Fight Racism, Raise Pay efforts, which will fall on the 49th anniversary of Kings assassination, will be marked by organized protests in two dozen cities, including Milwaukee, Atlanta, Memphis, Chicago, Boston, Denver and Las Vegas, the Associated Press reported. The civil rights icon was shot and killed in Memphis while in town supporting sanitation workers on strike in 1968.

When MLK was assassinated, he was talking to workers who were dealing with union-busting [and] unfair wages, Kendall Fells, organizing director for the Fight for $15, told the wire service.The bottom line is that every day, workers of color across the country face deep-seated racism that would seem to be out of Dr. Kings era, but sadly it is still happening today.

Thousands of underpaid workers, local activists, elected officials and clergy are expected to converge at local rallies, marches, teach-ins and other demonstrations from coast to coast. Thoseprotests will then culminate in a march by thousands of laborers, civil rights leaders and politicians at the Lorraine Motel where theyll hold a memorial at the site of Dr. Kings assassination, according to a press release.

The organized action comes in the wake of President Donald Trumps election, prompting some social justice and civil rights groups to push back against an administration they deem to be hostile toward working-class and nonwhite Americans. Activists say that by joining together, the two groups will be able to reach more people and magnify their message.

Fight for $15 and Black Lives Matter first came together in Ferguson where the citys predominately Black workforce at the local McDonalds has been on strike since before the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, according to the Associated Press. Since the shooting, workers there have not only organized to protest unfair wages but to challenge police department practices as well.

Were joining together with the Movement for Black Lives because our two movements have a common bond in fighting the racism that keeps down people of color everywhere, said Latierika Blair, 23, who works at McDonalds in Memphis making just $7.35 an hour. McDonalds conspires with police to try to silence us when we speak out for higher pay.

Corporations and politicians act to keep workers and Black people from getting ahead in America, Blair continued. We should be investing in our people and communities. Thats why we have to protest and thats why we will keep speaking out together until we win.

According to a recent analysis by the National Employment Law Project, nonwhite Americans are alarmingly overrepresented in low-paying industries like fast food. Moreover, more than half of African-Americans and nearly 60 percent of Latino workers earn less than $15 per hour.

In 1961, Dr. King saw a common link between the struggle for labor and civil rights, declaring that the two most dynamic and cohesive liberal forces in the country are the labor movement and the Negro freedom movement. Together, we can be architects of democracy. The Fight for $15 and BLM actions will close with a national moment of silence on April 4 at 6:01 p.m. Central time, marking the exact time King was shot and killed.

Dr. King spent his final days standing with Memphis sanitation workers because he saw the deep link between the labor movement and the civil rights movement, said theRev. William Barber II, founder of the social justice group Repairers of the Breach. Dr. King knew that if racism and poverty are inextricably linked, our struggles to confront them must be inseparable as well.

Organizations participating in next months efforts include Black Lives Matter chapters in Atlanta, Los Angeles and Flint, Michigan; NAACP branches inMissouri, North Carolina and Virginia, and other groups like Black Youth Project 100 and Dream Defenders in Tampa, Fla.

More:
Black Lives Matter to Join Forces with Wage Activists in 'Fight for $15' - Atlanta Black Star

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, March 26, 2017, 7:04 PM

A Baltimore vigil honoring the black victim of an accused white killers racist manhunt turned into a shouting match Saturday night between demonstrators and hecklers offended by the Black Lives Matter banners.

White protesters carrying the signs gathered in the Baltimore neighborhood of James Jackson to denounce the accused killers racist stalking swing that ended in the fatal Midtown Manhattan stabbing of an elderly black man.

Horrified residents tried to paint a more inclusive picture of the citys Hampden section, which is also home to Jackson, 28, who told police he boarded a bus in Maryland en route to New York on a sick mission to target black men before settling on Timothy Caughman, and stabbing him to death last week a 2-foot sword.

But the vigil, outside the St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, also drew hecklers annoyed that the neighborhood group would align itself with the Black Lives Matter movement

EXCLUSIVE: Jackson voices twisted regrets over killing Caughman

Idiots, one driver shouted as he drove past the gathering.

All lives matter, shouted another dissenter.

If they did, a protester retorted, he wouldnt be dead.

Baltimore resident Megan Kenny said the neighborhood has a dubious history.

De Blasio: Timothy Caughmans murder an act of domestic terrorism

There is something about Hampden that racist people feel comfortable here, Kenny said.

In a city where the population is more than 60% black, nearly 79% of the neighborhoods residents are white, according to demographic statistics from Baltimores department of health.

St. Luke's pastor, Vicar Jim Muratore, said he is ashamed of Hampdens past.

"We cannot ignore the history that cultivated Hampden's reputation as a neighborhood to which African American people do not go," Muratore said in a Facebook post.

KING: No place for attacks on character of Timothy Caughman

"That has begun to change, but we still have a long road ahead of us. Hampden was a stronghold for the Ku Klux Klan for generations. Landlords bought up houses to keep out 'the blacks.' Even our own church hosted black-face minstrel shows as a popular event for the community. Yes. That's racist."

Protesters expressed their condolences for the victim.

"This horror began right here," Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke told the group.

"We are ashamed, distressed and in sympathy with his family in New York. We came here to change people who hate like that."

Read more from the original source:
'Black Lives Matter' protesters clash with critics at Baltimore vigil for NYC stab victim Timothy Caughman - New York Daily News

Rain and cold conditions did nothing to thwart individuals from participating in a Black Lives Matter (BLM) march and rally Saturday afternoon near downtown Ames.

The event was organized by Sean Carlton-Appleton and Abdul Muhammad, co-founders of Ames' BLM movement.

A group of about a hundred Iowa State students, faculty and community members participated in the march that began at Brookside Park. The march continued along Sixth Street before making a right turn onto Northwestern Avenue, continuing into the downtown section of Ames before coming to a conclusion at the United Community Church of Ames.

Candidates for the Ames School Board, such as Monic Behnken, professor of criminal justice studies at Iowa State, spoke on the importance of equality in education to attendees of the post-march rally at the church.

Behnken acknowledged the recent research that showed an achievement gap between white and black students at Ames' schools. Many students and community members spoke of their gratitude for the march and shared their experiences dealing with racism.

Many Iowa State Students acknowledged incidents that have occurred on campus, such as posters that were hung on campus displaying swastikas.

We have these conversations the wrong way, Muhammad said.

Immigrants and multicultural students from Ames High School shared their experiences dealing with racial stereotypes and having labels placed upon them. An individual took to the microphone and sang Lift Every Voice and Sing, which is widely heralded as the African-American national anthem created by James Weldon Johnson in 1899.

Natasha "Tasha" Hill, sophomore in global resource systems,said there had not been much activism on Iowa States campus and needed to attend the event for herself. Hill had received an invite to the march through Facebook and sent it to her friends. Ebere Agwuncha, sophomore in pre-agriculture, was a student in attendance who migrated with his family from Algeria to America at a young age.

"No one is talking about discrimination, no one is talking about prejudice, no one is talking about labels and Trumps president, Agwuncha said. You dont have to be against your own culture.

Walter Svenddal, sophomore in computer engineering, said he decided to attend to support his friends. Svenddal said he found comfort in being surrounded by individuals with diverse backgrounds at the rally.

The message from today was really an empowering, solid message, Svenddal said.

Read more here:
Local Black Lives Matter movement hosts first march - Iowa State Daily

NBC4i.com

Homeowner told to take down Blue Lives Matter flag deemed 'racist' NBC4i.com She called them to ask why and they told her they had received a complaint that it was considered racist and offensive and anti-black lives matter, Gaddie says. The homeowners' association stated they have the right to refuse any flag for any reasons ... Florida Homeowner Forced to Remove 'Racist' Blue Lives Matter Flag?snopes.com Florida woman told to take down her 'Blue Lives Matter' flag in St. John's CountyWPTV.com Homeowner forced to remove Blue Lives Matter flag after it's dee - WNEM TV 5WNEM Saginaw fox2now.com all 28 news articles »

See the article here:
Homeowner told to take down Blue Lives Matter flag deemed 'racist' - NBC4i.com

@TheShadeRoom via Instagram video screenshot

The former East Tennessee State University student who wore a gorilla mask and disrupted a Black Lives Matter protest on campus while carrying bananas and a rope has been indicted by a grand jury.

The Associated Press reports that Assistant District Attorney Erin McArdle confirmed that Tristan Rettke of Hendersonville, Tenn., was indicted by a Washington County grand jury on two counts of civil rights intimidation and two counts of disorderly conduct and disrupting a meeting.

As previously reported on The Root, Rettke showed up to the on-campus protest wearing overalls and gorilla mask. He carried bananas, a rope and a Confederate flag. He told Johnson City, Tenn., police that he used the items to provoke the protesters. Rettke reportedly dangled the bananas, tied with a rope, in peoples faces at the Sept. 28 protest.

AP reports that witnesses told the grand jury that Rettke used racial slurs, intimidated them and made them fearful.

From the Johnson City Press:

Thomas Madison, who was not part of the rally but stopped by on his way to a class, said he began videoing and asked Rettke what was his purpose for being there. On the video, Rettke can be heard saying in a muffled voice that he was there to support the protesters.

He said, I identify as a gorilla, Madison testified. I took that as a reference to me being black. And I took him wearing a mask at a Black Lives Matter protest the fact black people historically have been called monkeys.

Madison also testified that he took the bananas being tied up with rope as a very serious threat when you come offer me a banana this close to my face, its calling me a monkey, and Im not a monkey, he said, demonstrating that Rettke was just inches from Madisons face during the encounter.

Jaylen Grimes testified Rettke wrapped a rope around the bananas over and over, then pulled the ends of the rope, which sliced through the fruit. Grimes said he viewed the rope as a noose and took it as a reference to the historical lynching of African Americans.

Patrick Denton, Rettkes attorney, says that his client was exercising his freedom of speech and didnt intimidate anyone.

Read more at the Associated Press and the Johnson City Press.

View post:
Student Who Wore Gorilla Mask and Disrupted Black Lives Matter Protest Indicted by Grand Jury - The Root