Notes from January Meeting – Regeneration and Renewal

We all know that Martin Luther King Jr. is very well known for his leadership during the Civil Rights Movement. When it started in 1955 and he led it until his assassination in 1968. We’re all familiar with his very famous I Have a Dream speech that was given in 1963 during the March on Washington. Many of us have read his letter from Birmingham Jail. Or maybe familiar with the march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, which became known as Bloody Sunday as they initially tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge. We are taught about his role in the Montgomery boycott, and yes, thankfully, every year we celebrate his birth and his legacy in January. We respect, appreciate, admire, and I’m grateful for everything that he did, and all that he gave, including his life, his efforts to eliminate racial and economic inequality.

I thought it was interesting his daughter Bernice King tweeted something very powerful this morning. She said please don’t act like everyone loved my father. He was assassinated. A 1967 poll reflected that he was one of the most hated men in America. Most Hated. Many who quote him now, and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate the authentic King. And when you listen to her words you realize that she is absolutely correct. There was one person to credit for keeping his legacy alive, for telling his story for making sure that generations to come, would understand what he stood for, and the sacrifice that he made. And that is due to his wife, Coretta Scott King.

After his assassination she took over the movement for civil rights and broadened it to include other issues, such as women’s rights, LGBT rights and world peace. In 1968 she called for women to unite and form a solid block of women power to fight the three evils = racism, poverty, and more. She fought hard to make MLK Day a national holiday and continued that fight until she was successful in 1986. It is often said that besides every great man, you will find an even greater woman. They may not always get the credit. But when you look at every major movement. women are often at the core of making impactful change worldwide. Coretta Scott King said “Women, if the soul of the nation is to be saved, I believe you must become its soul.”

When we examine the current issues that we’re facing today. Recognize that they’re not new. We have faced them many, many, many times before. We can learn a lot from Coretta Scott King. She stated “Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation”. We must remember, and teach our younger generations. The power of focus. The power of hard work. Not to get discouraged because right, and justice will ultimately prevail.

In conclusion I want to use one more quote from credit Scott King, she said “It doesn’t matter how strong your opinions are. If you don’t use your power for positive change, you are indeed part of the problem.” Members, we all have very, very strong opinions. And during these various tenuous times I challenge each of us to keep the words of Coretta Scott King and use our voice for positive change.

Thank you for letting me open this night on this momentous occasion.

I just have to say it is so wonderful to hear a member of the board of supervisors talk about evidence based health care and social determinants of health and thinking about vaccines. So, thank you for being on the board. It is just so good to hear this conversation,

I just want to talk a little bit about how to talk with people who are vaccine hesitant. Because there is a crowd of people who are pretty intense about their feelings and want to throw menstrual blood on the floor of the legislature and those are.. that’s a certain set of people. But there’s a lot of folks who are well meaning who aren’t you know going to storm the Capitol but have some, some legitimate concerns right, maybe they don’t trust the guy who was in charge of our government when operation Warp Speed went into effect. Maybe they are just a little bit concerned about how quickly it rolled out or maybe they have any, or maybe they belong to a group of people who have been treated pretty poorly by the medical system. And so I just want to remind you when you’re talking to people about vaccines, the best thing you can do is remember that you’re not trying to win a tennis game you’re not trying to score points. The best way to have a conversation is to just have genuine empathy, and to spend honestly more of your time listening than talking. So if somebody says, you know I’ll get the vaccine but I don’t want to be first in line, you can say, I totally get that that’s a really reasonable concern. You know, like a couple million people have already gotten it by now but you know what worries you maybe we can talk about it, because most people really really really big squishy middle of people who are not anti vaccine. They just need somebody to stop and listen and have a conversation with them. So, I will remind you as vaccine conversations start to ramp up that nobody ever actually changed their mind because you told them they were stupid, that’s not really a great way to change people’s minds. The best way to talk to people about vaccines, is to remember this is somebody that you like and trust and have a relationship with, and you’re really lucky that they’re willing to voice these concerns and that you have an opportunity to listen, to respond to what they’re actually saying with empathy and to share some of your experiences and your thoughts. And if you ever have questions about vaccines or anything like that. you are so welcome to to reach out, in particular on Twitter, or over email and I’ll answer any questions that you have, or point you to resources. If I don’t know the answers. I also promised to say I don’t know if I don’t know, which is also a best practice.