“The 470,000 members of SEIU 2015 join the community in mourning the loss of civil and labor rights legend Rev. James M. Lawson, Jr. Our thoughts are with his family and the many that loved him across our communities. Martin Luther King, Jr. called him, ‘the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world,” and we are better as a movement for him. From being among the first Freedom Riders arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, to being confronted by authorities during the “Bloody Sunday” march for voting rights…from the Nashville sit-ins to the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike…from the historic fights of the farmworkers to the immigrant youth movement, Reverend Lawson’s teachings have played a critical role in advancing racial and economic justice through the power of non-violence tactics. Rev. Lawson was also a monumental figure in Los Angeles as senior pastor of Holman United Methodist Church. He’s touched all our lives, including right here at SEIU 2015. When home care workers began to organize in Los Angeles, Reverend Lawson was there in the first picket lines, encouraging our founding mothers as they moved forward. He was also there when the 74,000 home care workers celebrated their historic victory. As we celebrate the 25th year of our union, let us recommit to his teachings of nonviolence as we continue to organize for social and economic justice in pursuit of the world we deserve. Rest in power, Reverend Lawson.”
