Thank You Letter to Scott Walker

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by: nancycronk

Dear Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker,

Thank you for your assistance in bringing together workers from every walk of life: teachers, firefighters, police officers, government employees, nurses, union members, people of faith, civil rights activists, environmentalists and many others. Thank you for giving us a reason, and a renewed commitment, to publicly declare that we stand together in solidarity to protect the middle class, and to ensure justice for workers. Thank you for helping us find our voice for democracy, and our passion for equal opportunity to the American Dream.

You see, when you and your corporate friends threatened the very fabric of our society — the working middle-class people of America — with your heavy-handed wrecking-ball policies, we woke up. We were not stupid; we knew this is not about the economy, or one state budget, or helping small businesses. We knew your power grab was really about weakening our voices — the voices of millions of hard-working people, as well as students, youth, immigrants, and people between jobs. We knew it was a way to make more profits for billionaires, at the hands of struggling American families. We are awake now, and we are not going to let you take our country from us without a fight.

On Monday, April 4th, we will stand together with our working brothers and sisters all over America. We will participate in marches, vigils, teach-ins, rallies, demonstrations, protests, and other events. We will take back our country, demand jobs that earn a living wage, and make our country better for all working people.

You see, we’ve been here before.

In 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. joined a group of 1300 city sanitation workers who marched for economic justice in Memphis. Dr. King stood with civil rights leaders, the faith community, and worker’s unions to demand justice for the striking workers. Together, they faced all who sought to suppress their free speech that day, and they won the moral battle.

The following day, April 4th, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated. We will not allow history to record that his life — and his work — were in vain.

Forty-three years later, Mr. Walker, you also threatened peaceful demonstrators — your own good citizens — that you would bring in the National Guard and illegally bar the doors of the Statehouse to the people of Wisconsin. You dared to take away the civil rights of hard-working Americans — public servants who only want their right to bargain collectively. Like the unified voices of the people’s movement four decades ago, our unified middle-class will not back down. We will not be intimidated. We will not be afraid.

We will stand together.

We will fight back.

We will WIN.

On April 4th, 2011, we will remember April 4th, 1968. Coloradans will join the people of Wisconsin, and Michigan, and all of the other United States of America, and we will honor the memory of Dr. King with our own courage and determination to reject your political over-reach, and your attempt to steal the American Dream. We will stand together for the future of our children, and for the future of this country. Together — firefighters, teachers, police officers, students, small business owners, sanitation workers, and many others — will take back America for the middle class.

Why? Because “We are One.”

Sincerely,

The People of Colorado

For the Colorado Event Schedule, please go to http://local.we-r-1.org/ . Check it frequently, as new events are being added daily. See you there.

7 thoughts on “Thank You Letter to Scott Walker”

wade norris says:

March 26, 2011 at 6:55 pm

it’s important for people to know this one fact:

Dr. King gave his “I have a Dream” speech in 1963 to a mostly all African American crowd in Washington D.C. – but it was not until

1968 – after he was helping to organize workers in Tennessee – workers of all races – to fight for decent wages and safe working conditions – that he became a ‘threat’ to whatever or whomever – and was assassinated.

Let’s not forget that the assault on the working class is an assault on the legacy of Civil Rights, Workers Rights, and Human Rights.

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1. nancycronk says:
  
  March 26, 2011 at 8:44 pm
  
  Amen, Wade, Amen.
  
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2. Ralphie says:
  
  March 27, 2011 at 3:32 am
  
  But about this comment, +1
  
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  1. wade norris says:
    
    March 27, 2011 at 5:30 pm
    
    it looks like our friends over the pond are also rallying against this attempt to re-introduce feudalism.
    
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…
    
    London Protests Gather Strength After Massive Budget Cuts Announced
    
    More than 250,000 people took to London’s streets to protest the toughest spending cuts since World War II – one of the largest demonstrations since the Iraq war
    
    All of these budget ‘crises’ are illusory and could be solved by closing tax loopholes for large corporations and the rich – a fact that is largely left out of this debate.
    
    See here:
    
    http://www.usuncut.org/
    
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Barron X says:

March 27, 2011 at 3:50 pm

.

Memphis sanitation workers, 1968

=/=

unionized Wisconsin state employees, 2011.

Go ahead and support who you will, but the two sets of circumstances, and the core disputes, are really quite different.

.

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susanalt1 says:

March 30, 2011 at 8:24 am

One point that you have not mentioned is the fact that while Republicans ruled the roost in previous administrations, beginning with the Reagan era, they deliberately ran up the deficit so that they could force their hand in cutting liberal social programs to meet their cultural war agenda and make gains in privatizing government programs. What we are facing is not accidental debt by any means. This is what Republicans are actually about. Corporate welfare is a given in Republican Land. They could actually balance the budget if they collected corporate taxes instead of shipping American jobs overseas. Their not about to ask for war profiteers to pay taxes to bring down the national debt that the war profiteers have made even deeper. The oil companies pay their fair share? No way. It is all calculated to make the middle class pay while the corporations claim a free ride. And the purpose of tax cuts for the wealthiest corporations, like BP, that made billions of dollars last year despite the oil spill that decimated the Gulf for decades to come? Its purpose is to force the elimination of social programs and public education that they deem too liberal or too secular to justify even their very existence. You think Republicans don’t want redistribution of wealth in this country? They just want it to go from the bottom up. The Republicans feel they can force their hand on restructuring (and even eliminating!) social programs such as education, social security insurance, health care, and union rights because they can now scream “look at the debt!” And the Walker attacks on union rights is a sociopathic attempt to banish all fundraising for the Democratic Party, whose funds for electing candidates come largely from union workers. But Democrats can see what is happening. We will fight back!!!

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1. nancycronk says:
  
  April 8, 2011 at 5:32 pm
  
  That is a very powerful (and frightening) paragraph you just wrote. Well said.
  
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