![\"Dallas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Dallas-MLK-2026.jpg\")
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Scenes from the MLK March in Dallas. | Photos provided by Gene Lantz<\/p>\n
WORKERS\u2019 CORRESPONDENCE<\/p>\n
If you some\u00a0time\u00a0think that fascism in America cannot be beaten, let me recommend marching in a Martin Luther King Jr parade. Several thousand of us marched along MLK Blvd\u00a0in Dallas\u00a0on the 19th. We were viewed by many thousands more.<\/p>\n
I was part of the Dallas AFL-CIO float and marching contingent. There were five of us seniors and at least 45 younger activists. Nearly all of them are members of the Texas youth constituency group, Young Active Labor Leaders (YALL).<\/p>\n
As we moved past enthusiastic parade watchers, they picked up our chants and kept them going after we had moved on. We did a lot of the traditional ones, such as \u201cEverywhere we go\/People want to know\/\u2026\u201d and \u201cWhat do we want (Justice)\/When do we want it?\u201d (Now), but by far the most relevant and popular chant was \u201cNo ICE, No K-K-K, no fascist U.S.A.\u201d It morphed into \u201cNo Trump, No KKK\u2026\u201d before the mile-long march ended at Fair Park.<\/p>\n
We had a beautiful red, white, and blue labor float provided, as it has been for decades, by \u201cSt. Gerardo\u201d Contreras of United Auto Workers Local 848 in nearby Grand Prairie. The logistics for this year\u2019s parade may have seemed efficient to the planners, but they were painful for the participants. Gerardo had to bring the float by 5 AM.<\/p>\n
The rest of us had to arrive at 7:30AM, but our contingent didn\u2019t even join the float until around 10:45. Amazingly, hardly anybody, even the septuagenarians and one octogenarian, complained. We were having too much fun being part of history and adding new pages.<\/p>\n
Stu Becker, local YALL chair and possible contestant for state\u00a0youth\u00a0leader, made sure that the true meaning of Dr. King\u2019s life did not get lost in the excitement. He and his group made signs based on pertinent quotes:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe labor movement was the principal force that transformed misery and despair into hope and progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo ignore evil is to become accomplice to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPoverty is placed on the public. The public only asks for a few things to end poverty: equality, healthcare, and a livable wage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was as if King, who was murdered for his beliefs so long ago, was right there with us.<\/p>\n
As we waited to launch, some of us discussed the past, present, and future. King is beloved in Dallas today but wasn\u2019t when he was alive. In fact, in 1963, because of safety fears, the Black Ministerial Alliance expressly asked him not to come. (He did anyway).<\/p>\n
Today, workers venerate King and are eager to learn more about his life and ultimate sacrifice. We marched\u00a0by the Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Center, which was established long after he was assassinated in 1968. Another historical site came just after the MLK Center. It is the Mt. Olivet Lutheran\u00a0Church, where the Southern Christian Leadership Conference met in the basement while being guarded from Klansmen by stalwarts from the United Auto Workers.<\/p>\n
Peter Johnson was the\u00a0Dallas\u00a0civil rights organizer while MLK was alive. After being shunned by most city \u201cleaders\u201d for decades, he is\u00a0now\u00a0a popular speaker and has a regular column in the\u00a0Dallas Morning News.<\/p>\n
The march\/parade became a part of Dallas tradition later, in the mid 1980s.\u00a0The union movement began its long uninterrupted participation as \u201cJobs with Justice\u201d in 1990; consequently, we were the 36th\u00a0labor contingent to be well received by the crowds.<\/p>\n
By boosting Dr. King\u2019s true message and his strong connection to organized labor, we felt that we were helping the progressive movement. It did us marchers a lot of good, too. In the thick of all that commitment and love, it was hard to imagine any success for fascists.<\/p>\n
We hope you appreciated this article. At\u00a0People\u2019s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading\u00a0People\u2019s World\u00a0and the stories we bring you, please\u00a0support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today<\/a>. Thank you!<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCONTRIBUTOR<\/p>\n
![\"Gene](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GeneLantz-1-200x200.jpg\")
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