Although King was in Memphis in support of a very local issue, he took the opportunity to connect their grievances to greater concerns in the nation and around the globe. “Something is happening in our world,” King says early in his speech, adding that “the masses of people are rising up.” Drawing upon the decolonization efforts happening in Africa during the 1960s, King argued that “wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.’”

Today, freedom movements around the world are more interconnected than ever before. American-born organizations like Black Lives Matter have spread to other countries like the UK and have inspired analogous campaigns like Nigeria’s #EndSARS protests. The plight of millions of Ukrainians escaping violence in their country has shed light on the harsh treatment given to refugees fleeing similar dangers in Syria, Haiti and other nations around the world. The cries of freedom are being heard and replicated across the globe.

“The issue is injustice.” With these simple words, Dr. King summed up why he was personally lending his gravitas to a labor strike. Rather than writing off the Memphis strike as an economic dispute, King framed the issue as a moral one, pointing toward the injustice and lack of safety against which the Memphis workers were organizing.

King’s words from 1968 echo current efforts to highlight labor struggles in terms of basic rights and decency. Labor is currently enjoying increased representation, with the backing of progressive Democrats and the sympathy of President Joe Biden, a longtime supporter of unions and worker rights. But it’s been on the ground that workers are asserting themselves.

The COVID-19 pandemic created opportunities for people around the country to leave unfair working conditions and low-salary jobs as part of the great resignation that swept across the country. Now, two years after Chris Smalls was fired from Amazon’s JFK8 facility for protesting against lax safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, Smalls has succeeded in forming the company’s first worker’s union. Defying the opposition of the world’s richest person, Jeff Bezos, who has spent nearly 30 years fighting against Amazon workers’ attempts to organize, Smalls’ achievement may lead to other victories for workers against the wealthiest companies and tycoons.

When the murder of George Floyd led to a resurgence and expansion of the Black Lives Matter movement, opponents of the struggle pointed toward the urban riots committed by a few to try to discredit the entire movement. In doing so, modern conservatives have taken a page from their predecessors of the 1960s. On March 28, 1968, King had joined protestors marching through Memphis when a small group — described by some as a breakaway from the larger group, characterized by others as outside infiltrators — began smashing windows. They were met by police retaliation, which left one Black teenager dead and more than 200 people arrested.

While King, who never broke from his message of nonviolent resistance, condemned the rioting, he also warned against those who would use the outburst to try to dismiss the underlying movement. “That’s always the problem with a little violence,” King lamented, charging that “the press dealt only with the window-breaking.” When it came to covering the issues that the 1,300 striking workers faced, King said that the media “didn’t get around to that.” The media and political environment today, in which outlets like Fox News condemn anti-racist advocates and even the Democratic president calls for more police funding, feel very much like the challenges King and the Memphis strikers faced in 1968.

After the violence of March 28, which many opponents of the strike blamed on King, the city issued an injunction forbidding King and the workers from engaging in a follow-up march scheduled for April 4. For King, restricting the right to protest against unfair and racist working conditions was not only illegal but went against the fundamental principles of the U.S. “If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions,” Dr. King said. “Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges because they hadn’t committed themselves to that over there.” In the U.S., however, King emphasized the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, including assembly, speech and an independent press.

In the end, King went to court and won. The injunction was lifted on April 4, but King was assassinated before he had the opportunity to lead his planned march. Now, the freedoms that he sought to protect in 1968 feel under greater threat in 2022, as Republican-led governments not only restrict fundamental rights like the right to vote but also ban schools and even businesses from talking about issues such as systemic racism or the struggles of racial and LGBTQ+ minorities.

Beyond protests and court challenges, King and the Memphis workers sought to use economic pressure to support the cause of the strike. “We are asking you tonight,” King told his audience on April 3,  “to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy…Wonder Bread.”

Internationally, economic warfare has become a major force currently being used against Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. At home, there have been movements and calls for Black people to use our economic power to effect change. In recent years, Black people and other marginalized groups and their allies have boycotted everything from the NFL to the Grammys. Even entire states, such as Georgia, North Carolina and Florida have faced real or threatened boycotts over repressive policies.

In the end, all these methods — economic boycotts, mass protests, legal action and international solidarity — will be needed as Black folks and other marginalized people face levels of formal oppression not seen since the Civil Rights era. And while the issues faced by Dr. King have sadly resurfaced in our own time, King’s final words to the public continue to give us guidance for fighting for freedom for all people.

You can listen to the words King delivered before his death here.