Twelve-year-old Francisco Gaskin compares the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr., and Harry Bridges and the longstanding support of ILWU Local 10 members to the civil rights struggle and to honorary Local 10 member, Martin Luther King Jr. The speech was given on January 17th, 2011 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day labor breakfast in San Francisco, CA. The video was recorded on a cell phone. A transcript of the Francisco’s speech is below.
My Dad’s name is Frank Gaskin. He is a member of the ILWU Local 10 San Francisco, Ca. He is the union representative, his job duties are to protect his members, follow and uphold the contract and enforce the safety code from our safety book.
What I thought about was how Martin Luther King Jr. helped the unions is he was against discrimination and thought every one should be treated equal. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and Harry Bridges had a vision. Harry Bridges was born in Australia. He came to America and changed the labor movement in San Francisco. Together Harry and Martin Luther King Jr. fought different fights, but the outcome was the same.
Martin Luther King Jr. opened people’s eyes across the USA. Harry Bridge’s revolution was known all over the world. Harry opened up the waterfront to anyone and everyone. Martin Luther King Jr. and Harry Bridges walked together. Martin Luther King Jr. is an honorary member of the ILWU local 10.
My Dad thought Martin Luther King Jr. helped the union because everyone is equal. In a union we are all brothers and sisters. A union is about unity, solidarity, trust and looking out for each other as a family.
On September 21st 1967 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at a Local 10 membership meeting. Leo Robinson and Dave Stewart, Local 10 Rank and Filers passed a resolution for all international unions in their union contracts making Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday a paid Holiday. Local 10 adopted it as a contract caucus for the Longshore Caucus. The Longshore division gained Dr. Kings Birthday as a paid holiday.
I believe that we should keep Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream alive by ending war all over the world. We should love each other, learn how to get along with people who we are close to or don’t know, at home, work, school and everywhere.
ILWU Local 6 Sec-Treas., Fred Pecker, also spoke at the event.