January 16, 2013
lì
M artin L u th er K in g J r .
Page
© 2013 special ed itio n
* Injustice anywhere
is a threat to justice
everywhere, t
Our legacy is yours.
Legacy Health values diversity in how we
work with each other, how we deliver care,
how we partner with our community and
how we do business.
- Rev. Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr.
www.legacyhealth.org/diversity
Walking Among1
Eveiyday People
ing during the foreclosure cri
sis to helping register thou
who are disproportionately af sands o f voters in the 2008
fected by HIV/AIDS, on how to presidential election, to m obi
eliminate its spread.
lizing citizens for police reform
Ward emphasizes the need to following the 2010 police shoot
em power the most vulnerable in in g o f u n a rm e d A a ro n
our communities— seniors, im C am pbell, to advising the p o
migrants, sexual minorities. “All lice b u reau’s N ortheast Crisis
for one and one for all,’’ said Response Team on dom estic
Ward. “God doesn’t discrimi and gang violence, she is beck
nate.”
oned w here injustice calls.
Recently, in observance of
In her leisure time, Ward is a
W orld AIDs Day, W ard along well-rounded artist; an actress,
with other advocate groups, and dancer, model, and author.
Chrysalis Ministries hosted “I
She is writing her first book,
Speak Life,” a concert show which she hopes to have com
casing many visual and perform pleted in 2013. A project that has
ing artists in a call to support taken her close to 15 years, it will
those living with HIV or who consist o f interviews she’s done
have succumbed to the AIDS with women in and out o f the
illness.
church.
The event gave voice to the
Ward is in the unique position
mantra “Planting a S.E.E.D,” to counsel women who walk
embracing the attributes of Ser through the door o f the church,
vice, Education, Empowerment distressed by domestic violence,
and Dedication.
infidelity and other crises. Not
HIV/AIDs are not the only free o f her own oppressions, and
issues Ward has risen against. as a female, African A m erican
“I ’m blessed to work within dif woman in a still very misogynis
ferent movem ents, especially tic society, she offers a uniquely
grassroots,” she said.
personal perspective on the is
As a young woman in her 20s, sues people face.
W ard said she le arn ed the
“Yes, I ’m ostracized,” she
“modus operandi” of grass roots said, “The very thing I fight
organizing living in the San Fran against, I experience.”
cisco bay area where she had
W ard starts each morning
the fortune of knowing many early and prepares herself for
inspiring civil rights leaders from the unexpected challenges o f the
the Black Panther M ovement day. She reads scriptures, medi
like Huey Newton and others ates to music, and sings her songs
activists like A1 Sharpton and before setting out on her mission
Dr. Cornell West.
to be o f help to som ebody,
In Portland, she has remained whether it is paying a visit to a
constant in giving voice to the man ailed by stomach cancer or
disparities and socio- economic su p porting survivors o f the
issues, and she has become a Clackamas mall shooting.
local and national motivational
“I do believe everybody is a
speaker and respondent.
special assignment,” she said. “I
From educating “everyday cannot make any changes, but
people” about predatory lend little ones.”
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 18
The PO RTLA N D WATER BUREAU
honors the
memory & legacy
o f the
REVEREND DR
MARTIN
LUTHER
KING, JR
d i-
■
f
■ -
JANUARY 15, 1929 - APRIL 4, 1968
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 16,2012
» ¿ ¿ il
P ortland
WATER
B U R EA U
FR O M
F O R tlT
TO
F A U C IT
1120 SW Fifth Avenue, Room 600
Portland, Oregon 97204
503-823-7740
wAvw.portlandoregon.gov/warcr
Randy Ixonard, Commisioner
David G. Shaft, Ddministraror