It's finally here -- 2010! This will definitely be a very pivotal year in America and the world! For some reason during the past year, our country has not moved forward with regards to appreciating and better understanding the rights of people particularly among all the various ethnic populations in the United States.
At some point in time in all of our professional careers, we will have to SPEAK UP AND SPEAK OUT on issues or organizations that deny the rights of the average citizen. Yet also as professionals, we cannot take a stand and protest on everything simply because we have to make a living.
Yet a few years ago in 2004, I decided to join a protest in South Los Angeles when I worked for Charles Drew University of Science & Medicine. The protest and march was in support for NOT CLOSING DREW HOSPITAL AND TRAUMA CLINIC. At the time, there was much social, medical, cultural and political debate in the community and the city (L.A. and South Central) as to the whether the hospital should stay open or close because of all the problems they were experiencing at the hospital. I joined the march along with so many others simply because it would be wrong to let this very important clinic to close in this part of the city which desperately needed trauma care and a hospital. This community is a predominately African American and Latino. Therefore, shutting down this hospital and trauma center would make it more difficult for local citizens to receive medical care.
So here are a few pictures from that 2004 protest and march. Politicians such as the Maxine Waters and former mayor Hahn along with Jesse Jackson Sr. participated in this event. Ironically, although the hospital closed a few years later and it is now scheduled to reopen in 2011 with the support from the University of California!
I can't tell you how rewarding it felt and still feels that I participated in this CULTURAL RIGHTS EVENT! You never know what may happen until you decide to participate. That's what I learned from this event!!
That's another reason why I wrote my latest book, "The Cultural Rights Movement: Fulfilling the Promise of Civil Rights for African Americans."
My book is scheduled to launch in February and if you want to read my daily TWEETS, check out my twitter site at: www.twitter.com/culturalrights.
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