Paul Tonko: “You know, the dignity that was addressed, the respect factor of ``I am a man,'' that rhetoric that speaks to the working…”

“You know, the dignity that was addressed, the respect factor of ``I am a man,'' that rhetoric that speaks to the working individual, that speaks to humanity, the man, the woman, the child, the dignity of the individual, the respect shown, was all that was embraced in that message, that struck all of America, touched all Americans. I am of the age that I remember that tragic day. It came so clustered. In a short 5 years, we lost three great leaders to bullets. It is just really a tragic outcome that you can't help but find yourself questioning what if their march continued, how different would America be? I find it so interesting that his last major appearance and effort was for workers, fighting for workers, for the dignity of work and the dignity of workers. The assault on workers' rights that he was addressing we see today in the news. We see it in Wisconsin. We see it in Michigan. We see it in Ohio. And it is like the same battles are here to be fought and won. So the spirit of Martin encourages, I think, builds our determination and our resilience to make a difference. The efforts that America needs to associate with the overall cause and concern for job creation and job retention is so vitally important. Many would choose to have us believe that it is a high rate of firings that is occurring out there, but it is really a low rate of hirings, which is a different sort of saga.…”