Tuscaloosa Councilman Clarifies 'MLK' Remarks Amid Union Push At Mercedes

TUSCALOOSA, AL — A Black Tuscaloosa city councilor has clarified his statements after news outlets reported that he allegedly made disparaging remarks about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to a pro-union employee at Mercedes Benz U.S. International in Vance.

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As first reported by LaborNotes.com — a pro-union news website reporting on the push for United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) to begin representing employees at the Vance plant — District 1 Councilor Matthew Wilson reportedly made the remarks to MBUSI assembly line worker Detrick Lewis as the elected official walked the assembly floor on May 10.

As Patch previously reported, voting on union membership at MBUSI began earlier this week.

Labor Notes reported that Lewis first took issue with Wilson’s comments published in a video that appeared to show Wilson taking a stance sympathetic to the company as opposed to voicing support for the union.

“Mercedes Benz has been an uplift for people like me, for people who look like me,” Wilson says in the video, to which Lewis told the publication that Wilson's words were a bit vague and focused on what workers could achieve as individuals.

“There’s not a single action in history that the effect was just one person doing something,” he reportedly told Wilson. “One person can start something, but in order to create change, you have to have backing behind you.”

Lewis then reportedly reminded Wilson of the actions of individuals during the Civil Rights movement, saying “I asked him, because he was a Morehouse graduate, ‘If the voice of one is so imperative. Because we’re both Black men, how do you feel about Martin Luther King, Jr.?’”

This is where Wilson is alleged to have responded to Lewis by saying “Martin Luther King was an elitist classist who did not care about the average American."

Wilson clarified his remarks to Tuscaloosa Patch on Wednesday, saying when he became aware of the widespread concerns from employees, he wasn't considering major corporations and held no particular bias either for or against a union.

"I considered only people. People who work to earn a positive living wage," Wilson told Patch. "The quote attributed to me is a combination of sentences from a private conversation with a team member. What I actually said was that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a classic man. He was classically educated. He was a part of an elite group of people who used their God-given talents to speak to the pain that many Americans were experiencing in the 1960’s."

Wilson went on to say those team members still drew a parallel to the Civil Rights Movement as a way to advocate for the union.

"I firmly believe that when the Poor Peoples Campaign was created in 1967 to address economic justice issues, Dr. King was not referring to someone who makes $75,000 - $100,000 a year with a high school education, access to healthcare and childcare benefits, just to name a few as impoverished, similar to the ones he addressed in Memphis, Tennessee on the night before he passed away," Wilson said. "Instead, I believe he directed his message toward those people who were living below the poverty line, in the richest country in the world."

Wilson then lauded MBUSI for its contributions to the local economy and said the German automaker has positively impacted the region in numerous ways.

"It has been an honor for me to serve as a pastor in West Central Alabama, specifically within the Black Belt, and to fulfill the role of City Councilman in District 1," he said. "Tuscaloosa, Alabama, undoubtedly holds a promising future, and I eagerly anticipate the many opportunities it will bring forth."

Despite Wilson insisting that his support is for those in the community as opposed to supporting the company fighting unionization, Joseph F. Scrivner, a dean of Chapel at Stillman College and a pastor at Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa's District 1 said Wilson is not representative of how many Black ministers in Tuscaloosa feel about the union vote at MBUSI.

“In fact, the Tuscaloosa Ministerial Alliance has discussed the union vote and there is some diversity among the members, as you might expect," Scrivner told Labor Notes. "There isn’t a stated position. Yet, I think it’s fair to say that the ministers believe the workers should be free to engage in an informed vote.”

Voting over UAW membership is set to continue through Friday.

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