Bu E t F SS or EN go TIA tte L n Sanitation Workers Sacrifice as the Pandemic Rages On By Clay Lute
IN
1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech where he discussed the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan and how it should influence the actions of the modern-day American. The speech was directed in support of striking sanitation workers. Dr. King concluded his speech by asking his audience, “If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?” 53 years later, it’s time that we ask that question again.
COVID-19 decimated the way of life for all of humanity, and as America rushed to throw out all of the possibly infectious transmitters of the virus, one occupation was tasked with picking up the waste. Sanitation workers have faced indirect and direct contact with the virus every day of the pandemic, 24
The Lexington Line • S/S 21 • vol 7 • no 2
from hospital equipment to affected household trash. If that waste is not properly disposed of, infection rates soar as more people become exposed to the virus. But what can be said for the middleman, tasked with keeping everyone safe by containing the consequences of our consumption? Sanitation workers are the unsung heroes of American society, but hidden in the piles of our detritus are strenuous working conditions, labor inequalities, and a great debate on how we treat the collectors of our consumption. The disenfranchisement of sanitation workers stems from the stigma of “dirty work” that foments the American workplace culture, in which
