Reflections: Celebrating Black History Month – Ryan R. Hawkins
The preamble to the Constitution always spoke volumes to me. It is the foundation for a better society. It speaks to the collective desire to ensure a better life by laying out the governance and rights of this great land — a life that somehow excluded Blacks because of the color of our skin.
My parents were each born in small rural towns in Georgia to young mothers who wanted the best for their children. In the early 1900s, both of their families were sharecroppers to provide for their families. A sharecropper, especially in the southern United States, was a farmer who raised crops for the owner of a piece of land, and who was paid a portion of the money from the sale of the crops. It was no easy life. It was a life of manual labor, predicated on the color of skin dictating the quality of a person’s life. Theirs was a life with few civil rights.
My father once told me that some of his earliest memories were working alongside his grandmother in the fields, picking peanuts and cotton. Day after day she tirelessly worked with swollen and nearly-bleeding hands and until pain radiated throughout her body. Sadly, her story wasn’t much different than other African Americans during the era of Jim Crow. By forced circumstances many lacked formal education and the opportunities to do anything but work in the fields.
Fortunately, I was born at a time when doors had been opened by the civil rights movement, the marches, and sit-ins of the 50s and 60s. These were the turbulent times that my parents and grandparents lived through and I was able to reap the benefits. Our country had taken a step forward. Although I had seen the scars that years of slavery and indignity of racism and segregation can have on a community, I was never able to truly appreciate the sacrifice and hardships many African Americans gave their lives for to end segregation – until the first time I experienced that very same racism as a child.
My mother and I often shopped at a grocery store blocks from our house in Miami. One day, when I was 8-years-old, I wandered away from her side to explore the store. Like most children that age, I was curious. As I looked at items on the shelves, a stranger came out of nowhere, yelling at me: “Boy get out of here. Your kind is not allowed inside here.”
I froze. I was confused and desperately looked around for my mother. I could see pain in my mother’s face as she came running from the back of the store to see what had occurred. But before she could even say a word, the storeowner stepped in and removed the man from his business.
Even to this day, the statement “your kind” haunts me. I was never raised to see color, but to appreciate the uniqueness of others and understand the importance of being different. It was that upbringing that made me want to help people and why I believe that most want to help each other. I made that my life’s work.
These are exciting times, when you consider what’s on the horizon. It was less than five years ago when this healthcare system was in a dire situation, leaving many hard-pressed to fathom if and how Jackson would survive.
Thankfully, because of the commitment of all of our employees and the residents of Miami-Dade County, we have stabilized our health system and we are rebuilding our infrastructure and facilities to complement the world-class medicine practiced here.
It is my belief, that if you make sound fiscal decisions you can be philanthropic in your policy development and actions. Jackson gave me the opportunity to continue helping my community by assisting in the transformation of our public health system and working with our local government officials to develop policy that nurtures Jackson’s growth.
Jackson has always been here for each member of the community, regardless of their ability to pay, offering world-class care. That mission is the reason people from South America, the Caribbean, or even small rural towns in Georgia turn to Jackson for life-saving procedures and medical care. For that, I’m proud to be able to contribute to driving our mission, both as an African American and as a citizen of this nation.