Remembering Black History in 2021

We remember not only a remarkable Black man named Martin Luther King Jr., but also his team who led the movement in fighting against the oppression, racism, and discrimination of Black lives. His daughter, Bernice King, is currently an American minister and CEO of The King Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta. Her father died more than 50 years ago when she was five years old. Last June, she told Jimmy Fallon on the well-known "Tonight Show" that people may misinterpret her father’s messages and take them out of the proper context. She explained, “For instance, when he talked about riots being the language of the unheard, he was not justifying and saying that he endorsed riots. He was explaining where the riots are coming from.” Two years after California's Watts riots in August 1965 and race riots in Harlem the previous summer, MLK Jr. shared his views on these events in "The Other America'' speech stating, “In the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard and what is it that America has failed to hear?” More than 50 years have passed since he attempted to explain the cause of rioting to his predominantly white audience. Today, the Black Lives Matter movement clashes with Blue Lives Matter supporters, and the recent deadly Capitol Hill attack led by Trump followers in response to election results vividly displays deep division within the country. The question remains - what is it that America has failed to hear?On top of the ongoing battle against racism and discrimination, the Black community has been harmed by COVID-19 at disproportionate rates in the setting of major vaccine distribution delays on local and federal levels. Although infection rates and deaths from COVID among Blacks are alarmingly higher across the country, a November Axios/Ipsos poll reports only 55% of Black Americans would even willingly receive a vaccine if proven safe and effective by officials. According to a perspective article published in the New England Journal of Medicine in November 2020, there is a crucial factor for this low percentage is the “justified lack of trust that many Black Americans have for the health care system in general and clinical research.” This distrust is “deeply rooted, in centuries of well-documented examples of racist exploitation by American physicians and researchers” (Trustworthiness before Trust - Covid-19 Vaccine Trials and the Black Community, November 2020, New England Journal of Medicine).Increasing health literacy and preserving transparency have never been more vital during this pandemic response driven by the best and brightest scientific minds, one of whom has played an essential role in the COVID-19 vaccination development. Meet Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett:Dr. “Kizzy” Corbett is a Black virologist, research fellow, and scientific lead at the National Institute of Health, who was a key player in developing Moderna’s COVID vaccine, shown to be >90% effective. For those of you who are interested, she has explained her research in detail in this video. Corbett aims to rebuild trust between Black Americans and medical institutions, which has been broken down by centuries of medical racism and abuse. Prominent figures in the fight against COVID, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, have praised Corbett for her lead role in developing the vaccine and fighting for medical equity.Per ABC News, Dr. Corbett believes that participation in the public meeting with now-former President Trump marked an important step forward for young scientists and people of color. She stated, “I felt like it was necessary to be seen and to not be a hidden figure so to speak. I felt that it was important to do that because of the level of visibility that it would have to younger scientists and also to people of color who have often worked behind the scenes and essentially [who have] done the dirty work for these large efforts toward a vaccine.” “So,” Fauci stated, “the first thing you might want to say to my African American brothers and sisters is that the vaccine that you're going to be taking was developed by an African American woman. And that is just a fact."The question that MLK Jr. posed in 1967 remains - what is it that America has failed to hear? It may be more appropriate to ask, who is it that White America has failed to hear, then further act for? As President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris assume the reins of the country, this call for restoring trust in scientists and public health professionals remains of utmost importance. Human connection and empathy can spur positive changes, and Dr. Corbett leads by strong example by connecting with her own community.We, at WIS Portland, continue our mission in providing a platform for the brilliant voices and works of our Black and Brown woman scientists. Look out for professional development, outreach and education, and advocacy to the best of our ability. We will continue to use our platform to uplift our “Racial Equity in STEM” professional event series beginning the end of January and running through March! Our first presentation was held on January 29, 2021 at 12PM with Astrid Kurniawan M.Sc., speaking on “Racial Under-Representation in Clinical Trials.” Look on the website for more! Author BioSabrina Raqueño-Angel identifies as a Colombiana and Filipina woman who grew up in Houston, Texas before moving to the Portland area in 2007. She enjoyed attending an all-girls high school, where she was empowered to pursue a career in the science field with guidance from her mentors there and a research lab at OHSU.She continued her education at the University of Oregon and graduated from the Robert D. Clark Honors College in 2019 with a major in Human Physiology and a minor in Global Health. It was aiding a local homeless clinic in Eugene as a Spanish translator/triage volunteer as well as serving low-income Latino patients on Día de Salud every year on April 7th that sparked her passion for the medical field and she has hopes to pursue life as a physician; helping to understand social inequities via public health research and clinical experience as a physician. Nowadays, you can spot Sabrina biking the city streets with her Portland Street Medicine team accompanying the needle exchange program providing necessary healthcare to our homeless folk. She also works as a medical scribe at a cancer clinic for a Medical Oncologist/Hematologist, where her devotion to medicine continues to grow. She also enjoys soccer and trail running on the luscious Oregon trails. Her favorite event in Portland is the summer Rose Festival, where she used to compete in Dragon boat races and hopes to continue rain or shine.