Being Uneasy

The Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC) was the site for the 26th Annual MLK Holiday Breakfast. The nearly 2,000 attendees filled virtually every space in the MCC’s ballroom. My guess is that if we had a larger ballroom, we could fill it as well (note to self: must work on a larger meeting space in our convention center). This year’s theme was Civil & Right: Are You Living the Dream?

Those in attendance for this prestigious event included such luminaries as Mayor Betsy Hodges, Governor Mark Dayton, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, as well as Lifetime Local Legend honorees, U.S. District Judge Michael Davis and Justice Alan Page. The highlight of the program, however, was the keynote address by Deval Patrick.  He served as United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division under President Bill Clinton, then served as the 71st Governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015 as the first African American to hold that post. 

He shared intimate aspects of his own life that included abject poverty and inequality, however, his overriding message was focused on the needs of the disenfranchised citizens of America who are on the wrong side of economic and social equality. He suggested that we should be “uncomfortable about how few of our comforts we share.” In short, he unpacked the theme of being uneasy about where we are as a people. He invoked the words of Dr. King to reinforce his point: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

During his remarks Governor Patrick recounted the numerous encounters that African American men and women have had with law enforcement in recent memory, some of which ended up with loss of life, and many of which never received widespread media attention. He suggested that a significant level of racism festers below the surface and that these incidents are simply symptoms of more serious societal dysfunction. Governor Patrick didn’t simply recount the obvious issues we are facing, instead he was quick to add that the idealism that many of us attribute to Dr. King should be followed up with action, and he reminded us that Dr. King was himself a man of action, as evidenced by his numerous arrests during his civil rights advocacy work and by the bodily harm he suffered that ultimately cost him his life.

And we are all called to action, as well, in all that we do. We are not necessarily called to participate in a protest march or an act of civil disobedience. We may just need to be aware of normal events in our lives, such as being a role model or mentor to those we may not even know we influence. We can actually see those we may encounter on the street as fellow citizens who have real needs and not just pretend they’re not there. We can encourage and actually personally participate in both corporate social responsibility projects and individual social responsibility projects. Whatever profession or cause we embrace should always be done keeping in mind those who will follow us. We stand on the shoulders of the founders of this nation, our own family members, mentors and others who have worked to create opportunities for us. There is not one of us who can truly say that it was only our own hard work or our ability to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps that got us where we are.

As individuals,as members of organizations or workplaces, or in society at large, we can always do better and should always be uneasy.