Doctors Care’s core values include inclusiveness, compassion, and respect. The recent events surrounding the death of George Floyd have impacted staff and volunteers, and one volunteer chose to share her history and feelings towards the fight for racial equality:
I am the daughter of a former minister who marched at Selma with Martin Luther King Jr. He was from Alabama and went despite vehement opposition from his family. My mother worked on the South Side of Chicago in the 50’s and started the first multiracial preschool in Charlottesville, VA when so many white families were pulling their children out of public school. I was often at African American Churches as my parents participated in organizing protests in the cities we lived in. At the time, I didn’t know that my experience of being surrounded by people of all races and religions wasn’t normal. I loved every minute of it.
I am grieving because both of my parents and their friends worked so hard for racial justice. We felt there was progress but it came at the cost of lives – not just Martin Luther King Jr.’s and Bobby Kennedy’s – but many others who were un-named. And now, here we are again. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Gardner, Trayvon Martin, Ahmad Arbery and, again, probably many more un-named.
I believe we can do more. And I hope, for the empowerment of our community, we are supporting those who are struggling.
