DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - South Florida sanitation workers paid touching tribute to a pair of workers from Tennessee whose deaths, decades ago, sparked a battle over civil rights.
Workers from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties took part in a nationwide moment of silence in Doral, Thursday.
Participants paid tribute to Echol Cole and Robert Walker, who were crushed to death inside a malfunctioning garbage truck compactor in 1968.
Their deaths triggered a worker strike and brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he was assassinated days later.
“It’s very important,” said Marcellous Stringer from the Sanitation Workers Union, “not just for this crowd, but for when you think about what’s going on right now today in the nation and the different things that happen. It’s very important for all Americans that we think about this man who gave the ultimate price — his life — to make sure we can come out and work.”
The event was also part of the “I Am 2018” movement, which aims to educate and mobilize activists to bring about change in their communities.
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