To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Memphis garbage workers strike, AFSCME has created the "I Am 2018" campaign. On February 1, 1968, Memphis sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker were crushed to death in the back of their truck because they were barred from seeking shelter in a white neighborhood to eat their lunch out of the rain. The tragedy triggered the strike of the city's 1,300 sanitation workers demanding fair treatment and better wages. The "I Am A Man" protests brought Martin Luther King to Memphis to support them, where he was assassinated on April 3, 1968. 

AFSCME is asking union and civil rights activists to organize a moment of silence to mark the day those workers walked off the job to fight for justice. For more information you can go to: https://iam2018.org/