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By Sabreen Dawud, Particular to the AFRO
Earlier this yr the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Staff (AFSCME) introduced their NAACP Picture Award nomination for the I AM Story podcast. The podcast has been nominated within the Excellent Restricted Collection/Quick Kind class.
Launched in April 2023, the I AM Story is centered across the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike. Hosted by Lee Saunders, AFSCME president, every episode highlights a person who participated within the historic strike. The podcast permits friends house to precise their private experiences in a approach that invitations listeners into the realities of African-American laborers within the Nineteen Sixties throughout the Civil Rights Motion.
“It was actually horrible circumstances they have been beneath. They weren’t allowed usually to take showers even within the facility the place they labored. They’d should go house and you bought to understand they’ve been dealing with rubbish all day in order that’s primary and generally they’d even have maggots on their garments,” mentioned Lon Partitions, senior communications council for AFSCME.
I AM Story additionally invitations views from people presently working within the sanitation business, shedding mild on parallels these staff have discovered between their experiences right this moment and the experiences of these collaborating within the sanitation strike.
“You’re Black males who have been being handled very poorly within the first place simply eager to have some rights and to have a pay elevate like anyone else. I say all that to say that on their backs, these are the true civil rights warriors. On their backs, we rise,” Partitions remarked.
The fifty fifth NAACP Picture Awards will spotlight the podcast in a non-televised ceremony. The classes not set to be broadcasted might be acknowledged from March 11 to March 14 others will air on Saturday, March 16 at 8 p.m. on BET and CBS.
“I felt prefer it was so instructional,” expressed Rosita Gabourel, a listener of the I AM Story podcast.
“Simply to listen to that these guys are nonetheless coping with points and the way one man bought laid off throughout the pandemic. It was simply horrible to listen to. I couldn’t consider they’re nonetheless coping with that,” she continued.
The collection notes the involvement of well-known civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. within the Memphis Sanitation Strike. As a number of African-American sanitation staff organized a protest to demand greater pay and eradicate insufficient work circumstances, King was drawn to their activism and went to Memphis to assist the trigger. This marked the final trigger King would take part in. Whereas staying at The Lorraine Motel, King was assassinated throughout his time in Memphis.
“We’re proud to inform the story of the fearless strikers in Memphis who marched with Dr. King, and we’re honored to depend them as members of our union household,” shared Saunders in a AFSCME press launch.
“We are able to always remember the sacrifices they made to make sure that everybody receives dignity and respect on the job. At a second when problems with racial and financial justice are once more entrance and middle, recognizing the Memphis strikers will encourage the following technology to proceed talking out towards inequality wherever they see it,” Saunders continued.
The podcast has launched 5, full-length episodes starting from half-hour to an hour. Listeners can entry the I AM Story from a number of platforms together with Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pandora and iHeart Radio.
For extra info on the “I AM Story” podcast, go to their web site www.iamstory.com.
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