Whereas, nearly 50 years ago, on February 1, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, two sanitation workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, were crushed to death while they were sheltering from a driving rainstorm inside the compacting compartment of their sanitation truck when it malfunctioned; Whereas Echol Cole and Robert Walker were two of the nearly 1,300 sanitation workers employed by the city of Memphis in 1968 who often were required to work 60 hours a week but were only paid for 40 hours at the minimum wage rate of $1.60 an hour; Whereas the city of Memphis sanitation workers, who were predominately African American and unskilled, faced dismissal without cause, had no showers or other sanitary facilities, could not apply for supervisory jobs, had limited accident and health insurance, and, due to low wages, often relied upon public assistance to make ends meet; Whereas Memphis Mayor Henry Loeb refused to recognize and bargain collectively with the union representing the city’s sanitation workers or to deduct union membership dues from the wages of sanitation workers; Whereas, on February 12, 1968, following the tragic deaths of Echol Cole and Robert Walker, the Memphis sanitation workers voted to strike for safer working conditions, a livable wage, and to redress other grievances; Whereas the strike had a powerful message and slogan that resonated throughout the community: I Am A Man ; Whereas, in view of Memphis Mayor Loeb’s persistent refusal to recognize and bargain collectively with the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees International Union (AFSCME), the strike continued and, according to local reports, more than 10,000 tons of uncollected garbage piled up on the streets of Memphis, leading Mayor Loeb to issue an ultimatum ordering striking sanitation workers to return to work by 7 a.m. the following day; Whereas that ultimatum was rejected by AFSCME International President Jerry Wurf, with the support of the NAACP