For the past decade, a diverse group of Pensacola residents have gathered together prior to the holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to celebrate his legacy and to honor those leaders in our community who exemplify Dr. King’s dream of fairness, equality and compassion.
The event and the award are both aptly titled “Living the Dream”.
Community Health Northwest Florida CEO Chandra Smiley was honored as one of this year’s Living the Dream award recipients at the annual “Living the Dream” event at Brownsville Community Center.
Two civil rights legends – the Rev. H.K. Matthews and Elizabeth Eckford headlined the event.
Matthews came to Pensacola after serving in the Korean War. As a local minister, he became involved in the civil rights struggles of the day, and founded the Youth Chapter of the local NAACP and the Escambia County Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Eckford was part of the Little Rock Nine, a group of nine African-American students who desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Elizabeth Eckford visited CHNWF Jackson Street in October.
Community Health Northwest Florida’s CEO Chandra Smiley reminded those in attendance that Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers were sparked by the Civil Rights movement in her acceptance speech:
Good Evening – I am so honored to even have been considered for this award and humbled to have been selected.
Our work at Community Health is founded on the belief that all human beings have a basic right to healthcare and our mission is to provide a full range of quality health care services with dignity and respect to ALL who walk through our doors REGARDLESS of age, gender, race religion, circumstances or ability to pay.
Many are unaware that Federally Qualified Healthcare Centers were birthed out of the Civil Rights movement. While the movement was in full swing, a physician named Dr. Jack Geiger secured funding from President Johnson’s “War on Poverty” to support two pilot programs focused on access to healthcare (one in Boston and one at Mound Bayou Mississippi).
In Mississippi, Dr. Geiger went to a predominately African American town that was made up of sharecroppers who were living in extreme poverty, and where children were dying from malnutrition. He and nurses went to Mississippi not only to bring access to healthcare, but also to go into the homes and provide education and support to the community. What ensued was a powerful movement in which the community banded together to support healthcare and to address social and health disparities.
Together they installed wells so that families could have access to clean drinking water. They established a community garden so that the sharecroppers, whose job was to grow fresh fruits and vegetables, could have access to the food for themselves. They installed screened-in doors and windows to allow air to flow through their homes during those hot southern summers and kept the bugs at bay.
Our Father of FQHCs, Dr. Jack Geiger, in his 90s, passed away in late 2020. What Dr. Geiger started more than 50 years ago with two pilot programs remains in place today. Currently, there are more than 1400 FQHCs throughout the country, caring for more than 28 million Americans, and our network continues to grow.
Present here tonight our some of our community’s most powerful and influential citizens (CEOs, Elected Officials, Board Presidents, Advocates, engaged and concerned citizens) who are here because you in some way are connected or care about this journey.
Also here tonight is my family. I have two beautiful daughters who are the center of my universe, and my desire to have them here is not for them to see their mom receive an award, but for them to hear this story…
A few months ago at we had a very special visitor at Community Health – Elizabeth Eckford – one of the “Little Rock Nine”. During that visit we had the opportunity to talk with Ms. Eckford not only about that day, but about the difference between integration and desegregation.
The difference is that “Desegregation is a legal or political process that results in ending the separation and isolation of various racial groups. Integration is a social process where members of different racial groups experience fair and equal treatment within a desegregated society.”
It is my belief the act and definition of integration could be taken a step further to include embracing and celebrating the unique skills and perspectives of a group. That everyone has equal authority and influence on process, initiative, policy and ultimately the trajectory of their community. So that one day honoring the contributions that everyone makes to the betterment of our communities becomes common practice.
In Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he stated that “One day little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers”.
I believe that we are not there yet. Segregation still exists today, and in Escambia County, perhaps not in the same vein as 60-plus years ago, but in the reality that racial and ethnic groups are still isolated. In regards to integration, there is a long road ahead before we reach real and lasting integration.
We have living legends in our presence tonight — HK Matthews and Elizabeth Eckford — and we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Here is my ask: As you leave here this evening take a look around at our community and your place in it and honestly assess whether this community is desegregated or integrated.
I believe that if we have truly reached full integration, events like these would no longer include awards. I look forward to a time when nights like this are simply community celebrations to honor Martin Luther King and those like Mr. Mathews and Ms. Eckford for their sacrifice and legacy. There may be a long road ahead but I challenge you to join hands as brothers and sisters and let us take that journey together.
CHNWF Board Member Grace McCaffery, founder of Latino Media Gulf Coast and Publisher of La Costa Latina newspaper, was also recognized at the event.
Photo: Chandra Smiley and Rev. H. K. Matthews
