Good evening and welcome I’m father Charleston and on behalf of Church of the Redeemer it is my pleasure to welcome you to then and now celebrating The Life and Legacy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr this evening is part of our annual series honoring Dr King and Black History Month tonight
Would not be possible without the prayers and support of many members and Friends of this parish and Community thank you for making this evening possible you haven’t come to hear the preacher preach you can come back Sunday but I want to tell you a quick story that will prove Beyond any shadow
Of a doubt why celebrating The Life and Legacy of Dr King remains incredibly important and relevant to our lives if we want to be Builders of those communities of Peace which Dr King spoke so passionately about my son Gus and I went to the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day
In Pasadena he’s an Alabama fan and that’s okay anybody can be [Applause] saved after after the game I took him to dinner in Beverly Hills at spago that’s called living beyond your means at Wolf Gang Puck’s famous restaurant and I was I was in the restaurant wine business before ordained Ministry the
Restaurants just reopened after a renovation dinner was great get the duck the main wall of the dining room Now features a series of black and white photographs depicting a variety of historic events in the center of the dining room the largest photograph with a big Spotlight on it is
A copy of spider Martin’s famous picture of Dr King Andrew Young and Ralph David abery standing in front of the Edmund Pettis bridge in Selma at the beginning of the second Selma of Montgomery March I got the feeling that night that my friends who were all Millennials
Working in the restaurant might not have a clue what that photograph was about and so I told my son I said watch this I complimented The Waiter on the renovation and I said what’s the deal with that big photograph in the center he looked over his shoulder and he said
Oh I think that’s from Wolf gang’s childhood Village in Austria I said wow okay then the manager came over to thank us and check on us after dinner and I asked him I said do you know the story maybe behind that picture the manager grew up in Arizona
And even had a girlfriend in Atlanta he he told me I I’m I’m not real sure but I know chef chef Wolf Gang loves to take pictures of bridges it’s a true story I told you I wasn’t going to preach but can you see why it is
Important to keep the Life and Legacy of Dr King alive today true to have secretary Herman and judge Hatchet here tonight is an incredible honor I’ve long followed my fellow alabamian The Honorable Alexis Herman and it’s my joy to finally meet her I was thrilled to see your name Madam
Secretary added to the Alabama business Hall of Fame in 2022 for those who are not in the no the only higher honor in the state of Alabama is to be Nick Sabin judge Hatchet your honor I need to confess to you and to members of the
Jury that I like courtroom TV so much that I skipped school in college more than once to watch you thank you and when the School asked me to leave I even tried blaming you to no avail you’re an incredible witness in the you’re an incredible lady in the courtroom you’re firm but
Compassionate both of our guests tonight have chosen lives of service over self Dr Willie Clemens will introduce our honored guests tonight if you don’t know Dr Clemens and his wife leria you should with with over 50 years as an educator and public servant he has been an senior advisor to the president of
Clark University associate vice president and director of external Affairs at Morehouse School of Medicine he has been a college professor at Tuskegee University and the College of DuPage he’s raised millions of dollars for scholarships and mentoring programs and academic centers he’s even has a new book out that I commend to you
But my favorite fact about Dr Clemens is that he is a member of this Parish church and Willie will introduce our guests after I pray these words let us pray for our country tonight almighty God who has given us this good Nation for our heritage we humbly beseech thee that we
May always prove ourselves a people mindful of thy favor and glad to do thy will bless our land with honorable industry sound learning and pure manners save us from violence Discord and confusion from Pride pride and arrogance and from every evil way defend our liberties and fashion into one United
People the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues UE with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy name we entrust the authority of government that there may be Justice and peace at home and that through obedience to thy law we may show forth thy praise among the Nations of
The Earth in the time of prosperity Lord fill our hearts with thankfulness and in the day of trouble suffer not our trust in thee to fail all of which we ask through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen Dr [Applause] Clemens good evening it is certainly a pleasure and
An honor for me to to be here this evening and to serve as chair for the celebration of life of Dr Martin Luther King the year 2018 was known as the year of the woman women especially africanamerican women from around the world made strives outstanding contributions and Priceless achievements
In their professions they set standards raising the bar and in many instances outpacing their male counterparts in many of their Endeavors long before 2018 there were two women who whose list of achievements sets the pace and standards for others yet to come they’re known as women of
First and here to celebrate the Life and Legacy of Darth Marther King are The Honorable Alexis M Herman and the honorable Glenda Hatchet this event is designed to continue the teachings and the and principles of Dr King while engaging with others in maintaining a Beloved Community that is a significant part of
His dream and Legacy here at the church of the redeema we decided to celebrate Dr King during Black History Month as chair along with other individuals of support it is our desire to to create a series of events that will bring the community together to share in conversation and dialogues with
Persons of note who were intimately involved with Dr King or actively participated with the King family and keeping the vision of Dr King alive on two occasions we had Ambassador Andrew Young and in 2022 he was accompanied by world-renowned spiritual leader and performer Whitley Fitz and so tonight we are just again so
Honored to have secretary Herman and judge Hatchet accompanied by redeemer’s own Lorraine Murphy and Sam Nelson as guests as we pay homage to Dr King well we have engaged on a wide range of organ we have engaged a wide range of organizations and leaders to partner
With us in this endeavor such as aala NAACP the divine nine sorties and fraternities gamma side Boule the akas the links Delta Sigma Theta sorority and many others we have also included the local and social media including TV Facebook and Instagram secretary and judge hat will have a series of interviews with the
Press visit students at Booker High School meet with Community leaders and enjoy the amenities on a place we call Paradise while focusing and engaging consistently maintaining his dream of a Beloved Community and I want to thank those of you who have played a role in making this celebration happen
They are my beautiful wife and partner of 54 years leria seals Clemens and our amazing daughters Libra and Ley Clemens Dr Nancy boxel and spouse Dennis Thompson who is unable to be with us this evening but advis counsel and made themselves available as needed and again I want to thank Father
Wilson and the Church of the Redeemer especially Griff Ferguson and Debbie Pender on your ongoing support and commitment to honor a National Treasure do put we go I’ll do it okay sorry about that these things happen you can see our our priest is very flexible and arises to to All Occasions
Okay I’m not stealing your money I’m just okay okay thank you but again I want to thank each and every one of you for uh for coming and uh your um your ongoing support and we also want you to join us to here on Sundays and get involved with many of the initiatives
That exist at this church but now it’s time to hear from those two women of first first you will hear from secretary Alexis Herman a native mobilan my hom girl as we say at that because we all grew up in the same Community after graduating from Xavier
University in New Orleans she accepted a job with Catholic Charities which led efforts to place the first women of color into professional and Tech technical positions in major corporations including General Motors Delta Airlines and the Coca-Cola Company at the age of 29 President Jimmy Carter appointed her as director of the
Women’s Bureau thus becoming the youngest director in the history of the labor department in 1992 she became the first africanamerican woman to serve as the assistant to the president and the director of The White House Office of Public leers on in the Clinton Administration and on May 1st 1996
97 Alexis Herman was sworn in as America’s 23rd Secretary of Labor and the first africanamerican to lead the the United States Department of [Applause] Labor as secretary she was instrumental in raising the bar employment in this country reached a 30-year low and witnessed the safest workplace in the history of the Department of
Labor Alexis’s father Alex Herman served as the first African-American elected official in the Deep South in 1940 her mother Gloria was a master teacher in the Mobile public schools in fact she was my wife ltia third grade teacher and the Godmother mother of our youngest daughter
Lei they instilled in her a belief of being a public servants and helping those in need currently she serves as chair and CEO of new Ventures a risk management firm she’s a recipient of numerous Awards and honors receiving more than 30 honorary doctors degrees from major colleges and
University she was the first African American woman to be inducted into Alabama Halls of Fame in 2022 she sits on several corporate boards the Coca-Cola Company MGM Resorts International Toyota Motor Company inry and recently comings she has served five presidents of the United States both democratic and
Republic she is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta [Applause] soror and sits on their executive board she’s also president of the Dorothy Irene H height Education Foundation finally ladies and Gentlemen please welcome The Honorable Alexis M Herman I was looking for you well we don’t have any glasses
Darling so we going really wi good evening good evening and my thanks to you Willie my homeboy for your warm generous and gracious introduction you know my daddy would have appreciated everything you just said about me but my mama bless her heart she really would have believed
You but I so glad to be here back in Sarasota to be with you and my sister your dear wife lyia I thank you for your friendship for your support literally throughout the years and both of you know there’s nothing that I would not do that you would ask
Me to do and so when you invited me especially to join you this evening in your Parish in your home Church Father Wilson I want you to know I did not hesitate to say yes and I thank you Father I thank you for not simply opening the doors but I
Thank you for for staying with this intent of continuing to honor Dr Martin Luther King Jr as a part of Black History Month here and you really have made it a special night for me because I get to do this with someone that I have loved and
Admired for many years and that is my dear friend judge Glenda Hatchet [Applause] yeah it’s my honor and you know Willie when I know that you uh have made it possible for all of these people to be here tonight because of your hard work and I’ve said this to you privately but
I want to say it tonight publicly I was so proud to read your book this is my story this is my song and my friends if you haven’t gotten a copy of it do so because it’s about our history and especially I believe it speaks to our children so thank you and
Congratulations you know coming here and leaving 30 degree weather in McLean Virginia it really was not hard it really was not and as I look into this audience tonight I see so many friends really extended family that I dare not start calling the role I see my Delta Soros thank you so
Much my sisters in red and and I’m sure Glenda there are a few here in pink and green tonight but the red really does stand out my college roommate my dearest friend Joyce Carter who was just named by the way by Xavier University our armor model alumna of the year and so
Congratulations Jo she’s from Chicago and she flew all the way in to be with us gloryia I’m not going to get started on us but I’m so glad to see your smiling face and I think that’s Patty sitting next to you is that Patty indeed it is
Lra I’m going to have something to say about you a little bit later but there are three people here tonight really that I do have to ask if they stand briefly and be recognized because they were my neighbors and you all brought them here to Sarasota I miss them so much but they
Are here tonight and so the levies David Micah I saw you come in marama thank you so much for being here tonight I do miss you I do miss you terribly I do miss you and I know somewhere there are a lot of my Coca-Cola team members here so
Thank you so much for being here you know my friends the reality is in 2024 we are celebrating the 95th birthday of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and I’m going to speak more now from my heart tonight because if you noticed everybody was passing me glasses I forgot
Mine Glenda had some beautiful pink ones they don’t work sweetheart that’s because we care for [Laughter] 9.99 and whoever gave me these they somewhat work and I’ll try them for a little while but let me just say that as we celebrate the 95th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr you
Know his life his legacy and the lessons that he left us are indeed Timeless this nation has a holiday name for just three people two were presidents George Washington who helped to create our nation Abraham Lincoln who did the work to preserve our nation and Martin Luther King
Jr who dedicated his entire life to helping this nation to redeem literally its moral purpose he didn’t live long enough to see a man walk on the moon the creation of the internet he didn’t have a Facebook page he didn’t get the text a tweet Ralph he didn’t read 50 emails a day
Okay and he didn’t live long enough to see his only grandchild Yolanda Martin’s baby girl but he did have a sense that somehow advancing technology in this country was bringing us closer together as a world and he spoke especially as Willie said in his latter
Days about the work that we needed to do to create the Beloved commun community and he talked about what did that mean and for him it simply meant that we had to come together as a nation as a world Community as a global citizenry to put aside our
Differences and to learn to work and to come together you know I was born in Mobile Alabama right father but I always call myself a born again Georgian I speak to the former first lady of Clark University the reality is those years in Atlanta Georgia for me
Were some of the best and I had the opportunity to spend many hours with members of the king family especially M King and daddy king I was actually in ebena Baptist Church when Daddy King gave his last sermon and that sermon was entitled a misplaced emphasis I remember it to this day he
Said you know some of us go through this world watching what’s happening others go through this world wondering what’s happening but far too many of us go through this world talking about what’s happening when in reality what we have to do we have to make Dr King’s dream still
Happen he said so many people ask me and he said this with tears in his eyes you know how do I want to remember my boy he said people will say to me do you want to remember him as the recipient of Nobel Peace Prize do you want to
Remember him as a young man who went to morous college at the age of 15 do you want to remember him as an ordained minister at the age of 18 do you want to remember him as the leader of the Montgomery Bus boycot he said you know and and and
Martin himself said I want to be remembered as a drum major for justice and that’s what I want on my Tombstone and of course that is what they put on it he said but I’m going to tell you how I want to remember my boy I
Want to remember my boy as an a student give me your watch really because I’m not following the script here he said I want to remember my boy as an a student he said and not in the academic sense although he was an a student he said I called him an a
Student because first of all he was aware he was aware of the issue of the day and the issues of his time he said he was an advocate he was an advocate you did not have to wonder what Martin Luther King Jr stood for when he walked in a room
Everybody knew where he was coming from he said and he was a man of action he acted on his beliefs he acted on his principles and so when when Willie called me and and he said you know will you come will you talk about you know your experience your thoughts on The
Life and Legacy of of Dr King I thought about those three AG awareness advocacy and action he told me about the good work going on here in s Mota in this community with this church and what you’re doing with the house of of Resurrection is it Resurrection Resurrection yeah it is
Resurrection he talked to me about what you’re doing for your day of Hope with the public school system and our children and you know when he talked about your work with the homeless and I thought about this notion of awareness right here in Sarasota I thought to myself you know then and
Now what was it like then when we talk about The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr and what is it like now you know in this country today I believe we really take for granted the plight of the homeless it has become such a part
Part of the fabric of this nation not just at Sarasota but throughout the country we take for granted you know when I was growing up in Mobile and tia you know this we had people we call bag men and bag ladies but you didn’t really see many of
Them but today you can’t even count the number of people who are homeless on the street and so I thank you Father I thank you Father Wilson for what you’re doing and I know that you’re leading that organization but you know I ask you here do you know how deep the problem is
In Sarasota is it growing is it under control you know what is your awareness of just that one issue I see my sisters in red and really talked about the links and all of the great organizations who are here here tonight you know I want to challenge
You I want to challenge you just to come up with one imperative as a coalition of organizations to come together and maybe do just one thing just one thing to support the house of resurrection and the work of the homeless you talk about The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther
King he believed in coalitions that’s how he got his work done and I think we would be so much better if we came together in a coalition of family organizations right here in Sarasota and just made a decision to do just one thing for the plight of the
Homeless and as I heard Willie talk to me about the day of Hope where you go into to the public schools and you give books you give food you even do hairstyles and haircuts and you spend time with these children with spiritual enrichment that is so very important
Today I could spend all of my time right now just talking about the plight of education and what has happened with our children what has happened with our children we are losing literally a generation of our young people we don’t need just a day of hope we need months of hopes we need
Years of Hope if we’re going to really make the right Investments that we have to make in our children and there education today that’s why I’m so proud of you Micah and I’m glad you’re here I could say more about what’s your high school here in Sarasota say it
Louder out out of door C that’s right it’s a great school here and he’s a great student but he he’s one of the great leaders and mentors right here in this community a young person and I thank you for that I thank you for that I spoke just on
Monday at Georgetown University in Washington DC and I was struck by the data in a national poll 70% of our children college students today don’t believe that they have the same chance to achieve the American dream as their parents did 62% of college students today think that the problems here at home
Domestically are much greater than the problems internationally and 63% are worried today about mass shootings in their schools you talk about then and now the life and times and legac Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr we didn’t even have the concept of mass school shootings we didn’t even talk about
That it’s a very different world today it’s a very different and Libra I’m going to embarrass you a little bit because you know your Nanny doesn’t rap I don’t rap but but I know a few rap songs I’m going see if you do cuz there’s one by black
Sheep that says you can get with this there you know y’all know it too don’t all right father you know that one yeah it says you can get with this or you can get with that so I say to you you can get with this and make the
Investments and become more aware of what we’ve got to do to support our children today or you can get with that manyan you can look back and think somebody else is going to handle it because it’s their problem you see the choice the choice my friends tonight it really is
Yours it really is yours and I’m going to start winding down because I think I had some other things to say but since I can’t see it I’m going to tell you a story instead I’m going to tell you a story about a homeboy and a home girl from Mobile
Alabama their names were lemon and felma got Willie you knew them well well they had moved to Washington DC and we were all working there and we were neighbors Southwest Washington and one day their little boy Charlie who also happens to be my godson he was five years old and he came
Running in we were sitting on the back porch we had a little screened in door area and he runs up to his mother fman he said Mama Mama where do I come from where do I come from and themma got all frustrated she said oh Lord I didn’t think I’d have to
Get into all of this right now so she brings Glenda Charlie up on her lap and she said well Charlie let me tell you when your daddy and I met where we fell in love and you see Charlie when grown people fall in love well they are you see they [Applause]
Are Charlie looked at his mom and he said oh mama I already know about all of that Billy just told me he came from Tennessee now where do I come from [Laughter] to which his mama happily said Mobile [Applause] Alabama so like Charlie tonight let us not jump to
Conclusions and think that we know all that stuff that we know about all the issues but do what Dr King did do your homework investigate what has to be done right here to make a difference in Sarasota and like felma Charlie’s mama let us not jump to the
Cusion but let us take the real time of what we have to do to listen to one another to hear one another if there’s one thing that probably troubles me more than anything else today it is really this notion this sense that we don’t see one another we don’t listen to one
Another we don’t really know what it means to create that Beloved Community that Dr King spoke of we don’t understand or talk about anymore the common good the recognition that the better some of us do the better all of us do because we’re so busy investing in what we want
To that and what we want to do it used to be back then not just about me but it really was about us that as a community as an extended family and so I challenge you tonight to think about what is the difference you can make you know Martin Luther King Jr was
39 years old when he died but he had lived a life full of passion full of passion and purpose one of my great mentors and my surrogate mom was Dr Dorothy Irene height she was the longest serving president of the National Council of negro women an organization founded by a great
Floridian Mary McLoud the Phil but Dr hey who actually met a young Martin at the age of 15 told me one day as we were sitting in her living room she said Alexis do you know what Martin Luther King gave his I Have a Dream speech twice before twice before
She said the last time he gave it I was there it was at a church in Detroit Michigan she said but do you know what the difference was when he gave that speech at the mall in Washington DC she said the difference was that day the world was watching and listening
That’s what the difference was and so I say to you tonight as I close the world may not be watching and listening to what is going on here in Sarasota Florida but you are you are so you need to ask yourselves the question what is it I can
Do in my time and in my space to make a difference the good book teaches us that to whom much is given much is expected and I love the words in Galatians father where it says and let us not grow weary in doing good that is our calling that is our
Challenge and I thank you for what you have done but more importantly I thank you for what you’re going to do to continue making the promise of America the practice of America and living the dream of Dr Martin Luther King Jr God bless you tonight [Applause] well again uh secretary
You have risen to the occasion and uh we just so proud of of you and all the things that you continuously to do and thank you for for coming and being here with us in Sarasota Florida and now before we bring on the judge as I had mentioned earlier that
There is a person here at Redeemer whose voice just resonates not only here at church but all over the Sarasota community and we are just so proud to uh to have her be with us this evening accompanied by Sam Nelson ladies and Gentlemen please welcome Miss Lorraine Murphy [Applause] The J give Me M M This give to Of this Nobody of this world well absolutely thank you so much uh Lorraine beautiful as as usual and now they the next just so they know I need to go to well that is true again thank [Applause] you judge galinda a hatchet uh a native of Atlanta Georgia Glinda comes on the second phase
Of our life Alexis was at the at the beginning in Mobile and then when we moved to Atlanta over 50 years ago it was Glenda that we that that we met uh and she and L leria bonded as charted members of the the links chapter uh with 45 years ago and we’ve
Just been very very very close friends since but she’s a graduate of Mount Holio college and Emory University School of Law where she was an Earl waren scholar George Hatchet completed a prestigious Federal Kirk ship in the United State District Court the norn District of Georgia where
She was the first black clerk in that federal court judge Hatchet then spent nearly 10 years at Delta Airlines where she was the airlines highest ranking woman of color worldwide as senior attorney she represented Delta Airlines in label Personnel antitrust litigation and Commercial acquisition as a public relations manager she supervis Global
Crisis management and handle media relations for 50 50 US cities in Europe and Asia E Magazine recognized her as one of the nation’s most outstanding women in Corporate America George Hatchet was appointed a judg ship in 1991 becoming Georgia’s first black chief judge of a state court in the state’s history there
She there she presided over Fon County Juvenile Court one of the largest juvenile court system in the nation George hasher gained National recognition for her groundbreaking Initiative for juvenile reform and received several Awards including the United States justice department Rosco P award the Department’s highest award she is a major advocate for
Children and family she to she serves on three Fortune 500 500 companies board HCA the Gap and service Master’s company she has worked tirelessly as a member of the National Football League Atlanta Falcons Board of advisor and a consultant to the National Basketball Association on pressing legal and social
Issues I think we all know that and what she uh is known for in addition to her role as a a judge dealing in the legal situation she is a television personality she presided over the two-time Emy nominated National syndicated show judge Hatchet now in its 23rd season she
Returned she recently returned to TV in her new television courts series The Verdict please watch and she has done many things in that Medium as well she’s an author she’s won any number of Awards She’s received any number of of of honorary degrees she’s a public servant
And she has devoted her life to giving back and working especially with youth and so ladies and Gentlemen please welcome here comes the [Applause] judge thank you judge Hatchet before and I know you have words to uh to to share but growing up in Atlanta share with them the audience
That is the your experience with the King family and how that has helped shaped you and what you do uh today so we could start with that let me take three seconds to thank Willie and leria for getting me here um and I absolutely have such deep respect
For you Alexis you know you you know you know you know you know uh we go so far back and I just I want you to know that what you see is what you get that she is fierce powerful and unapologetically a black committed woman and we have all benefited from you and
We have to we have to stop and say thank you um I know so many people in the audience but I have to point out my family member Barbara edin uh who is um here and uh love you Barbara where there she is back there come on Barbara stand
Up um and so I grew up in Atlanta and I am very quick to tell you that I am a beneficiary of Dr Martin Luther King’s dream but but as a child I didn’t get it you know he was just Martin Yoki and Marty’s daddy you know Bernice and
Dexter were much younger but I took music with Marty and Yoki and my music teacher our Music Teacher lived diag across the street from the Kings and so he was just their daddy I didn’t understand as a child that he was this uh transformational figure that changed
The world I have to tell you and I have used up my quota of curse words for the month and it’s still early that I am outraged that a Clarance would say that everything’s fine it is not fine and that we continue to have to fight the good fight and so
I’ll show you how things come around Bernie King his youngest daughter then went to law school and a theology school people know her as a preacher but forget that she also is a lawyer having a dual degree from em University when I was a when I went to
The bench she came to me even before I was sworn and said I want to come and be your law Clerk and she was my very big very first law clerk when I became a judge and Mrs King bless her heart was sitting there on the front row the day
That I was sworn in and so having grown up in Atlanta you know we see and we understand all of these historical figures that had made such a difference in our lives the Joseph Low’s Sion Dr King in addition to that they were all of these
Warriors that we saw and lastly I will tell you Alexis and I I I I hate to admit it but I was ashamed to wear this coat because my parents would not cross the picket lines and so my mother took this navy blue coat with tiia and she cut off the
Sleeves and inserted a red insert and then she did the same thing for the bottom because I had outgrown the coat but we weren’t going to buy a new coat cuz we not going cross the picket lines and my dad was very clear about that and she read she made me a
Matching red tan but I didn’t want to wear it and I wish I had that freedom coat now because what our parents did for us and what Dr King taught us to understand is that the progress required sacrifice it required sacrifice good another question judge is what do you see coming into your
Courtroom what do You observe in terms of the breakdown in regards to vales in your courtroom with our families and children what values are missing well I’ll tell you first of all when I was growing up in Atlanta and you had the same experiences in Mobile and everybody
In my age category can can repeat the story you couldn’t get away with nothing right and thank God that Mr farmer had gone on to the glory and they didn’t interview him when they were checking me out to be a judge because if he had told the stories about the stuff
We used to do and Miss Johnson lived across the street and you know we used to call him Miss hawkey we didn’t think she had anything better to do than to stand in that window and catch us doing stuff we had no to do and I say that to say that in my
Courtroom there were so many young people that people didn’t have their hands on them you know what I mean they didn’t have their hands on them and so it didn’t matter who caught you doing stuff you had to be accountable to everybody because you belong to everybody very quickly when I was right
When I was 20 and I gone over to Weston mall and this man old the gentleman said you that new juvenile court judge downtown and I said yes sir I am you proud of that he said well first of all you look like a juvenile and then I he
Said but let me tell you something the problem is nobody’s calling these boys son anymore think about that when you were growing up Willie it was like son how you doing son is awfully late out here son you need to get on home son I heard you were on your
Way to college son I haven’t seen your grandfather telling my a might not known your name but he called you son and we as a community have got to get back into the business of calling our children our sons and and daughters and meaning it and so the accountability you know
You don’t want a judge like me that have to tell your child that they done messed up really you know you need to set the rules but judge if I did what you told me to do in your parenting book my child wouldn’t like me I like excuse
Me that’s why she’s got Bonita and Joselyn and Sarah and Bobo and all of them ray ray ray ray all of them but if God didn’t need you to be the parent he would have put them here grown they would have come to the world
Grown and so what I have seen will I’ll make this very quick is that there is we have we don’t have the fabric of that community that these children can stand on often times and accountability and what are you saying you’re giving your daughter a curfew but your son can’t spell
Curfew I’m going there I am and and I can say this because I’m you know raising had raised two sons and if we are not doing that then who our daughters going to marry if we aren’t raising a new generation of responsible men and women and until we get back
There and have school systems I’m finished school systems who are responsible and keeping our children engaged and in school a child who drops out is three and a half times more likely to have a criminal record than a child who graduates seven times more likely to be dependent on welfare
Seven and a half times more likely to then have a child who will drop out so who’s on the school board who’s in the classrooms who’s running our public education we got to ask the hard questions and we got a whole elected official accountable cuz too many of
Them are drawing breath and salary as my mama would say and not doing enough because it’s not just about who’s being the president it’s also who is running dayto day in our communi thank you and and judge both you and and secretary Herman well first as we as I mentioned in the
Introduction uh are you conscious of that Pioneer status is it hard being a first or a Pioneer are there lessons that you could share from your lived experiences I’ll be blunt W it back there I got my ass kicked a lot said you can’t sugarcoat this right you can’t sugarcoat
This I go into a deposition and they couldn’t imagine that a young black woman could be defending Delta Airlines on a multi multi multi-million dollar anti trust suit which if I lost would have not doubled but tripled in Damages quick story 30 seconds I walk in well I’m there
Already and um posing Council walks in big conference room in New York law firm up in New York and he looks at me and he says we’ll get started when your when your boss gets here you know these you’ve been there so in that Split Second I had to
Decide whether I was going to go Chen on [Applause] him or if I was going to proceed to win I’m not suggesting you let people roll over you but you got sometimes you just got to be very strategic so if ask for I say calmly I and I wouldn’t do this now
Alexis I promise you I wouldn’t do it but back in the day it was survival I signed all of my pleadings that I file with the court all of the letters every correspondent went out as G Hatchet Johnson well Johnson’s No and not in the
Picture no but back in the day G Hatchet Johnson and so they just assume I was a man I wouldn’t do that now I wouldn’t do that now but then I had to do it to survive I mean I’m just being real so he did it it just never occurred to him
That the woman would be doing it and certainly a black woman who was barely 30 years old so then he says laughs in my face whips out a magazine out of his briefcase and wears back and starts reading the magazine okay make this real quick so I did some softball questions
Then I proceeded to nail his clients as to the [Applause] wall I won that case on preliminary motions for lawyers in this ordiance you know that’s almost dang on Impossible in an antitrust case so my general counsel calls me in congratulations and then about three weeks later he says Glenda they want to
Apologize I said no thank you I don’t need it I’m done and so I can tell you a 100 stories a 100 stories where people were racist and tried to sabotage and undermine and that didn’t just happen in Corporate America that happened when I was on the
Bench it every place I have been it is alwayss the struggle but my role Alexis role has always been to get that door open force it wider but very importantly to reach back and pull up a new generation behind [Applause] us just briefly secretary Herman can you
Respond to that as well as being the first well you know first of all did C everything that the judge has said but just at a very human emotional level it’s lonely it’s very lonely it’s lonely being the first because you can’t talk to anybody else who understands where you’re coming
From Spirit you learn to wear the mask to manage your own rage as you know you’re being discounted and ignored in the room when you speak and I think the other reality to you when you talk about what it means to be a Pioneer and opening those doors so that others can walk
Through you really have to just keep that at the top of your mind you do that’s not about me but this is about our people that’s right we have to lift as we climb and we stand on the shoulders of those who went before us and now it’s our
Turn and so I have always had to find ways to encourage myself so that I don’t become discouraged or bitter or bitter or bitter and angry and angry and yep and that too yeah you have to do that and I’ll just say this you know we’re in church I didn’t pray a lot
When I was a young woman but as I got older and as I had to recognize this lonely walk you know I learned to pray I really learn to pray cuz sometimes it feels like it’s just you and Jesus and let me tell you and it is it is thank
You and this is the last question what would be the top three values that you Embrace as a leader judge Hatchet that have contributed to your own development I think um authenticity that you got to be who you are and unapologetically so the second would be Integrity your
Word has got to be your bond it’s got to be and then I think the third is just pure tenacity that you can’t give up just got to keep pushing as hard as you can secretary well would you believe if you’d ask me first I would have said the same
Thing great I would just do a postcript on the word integrity a lot of people don’t know what that means really especially today say that but my Grandmama used to say there’s a soul line that you don’t cross and you got to know when to say no and when to
Compromise and when you have real Integrity you’re very clear about your boundaries very clear very clear and where you stand I love that you know so n Jackson if I could just add a little footnote to that Alexis I um I I have been so blessed to be able to work for
Some incredible people so my first year after law school law people who were already lawyers because he only had one legal intern mayor Jackson when he was me love that man and and and I would get to sit in these meetings and what he would say is that if you are close
Enough to the line in sports that’s the analogy he would use if you’re close enough to that outou of bounds line to get your cleats with chalk on them even if you didn’t cross it you’re too close I have never forgotten that never forgot absolutely no cuz ly came in hi
Ley and as you were talking about that I think the other value I would add is what you talked about and that is the sense of the value of family the value of family and the work that we have to do to keep the relationship relationships and to stay connected it
Is so much harder today especially with our children and the impact of social media you know I was late Willie was rushing me to get here because I was counseling a girlfriend in Washington who was crying because she had a grandbaby over the weekend and he’s 5 years old he was in there
Watching cartoons so you know she didn’t pay any attention these kids do all these games and you know we stick everything in front of them now and so she stuck her head in and here was a cartoon of porn of porn of porn that this child was watching on
Television and I’m not going to say it cuz we in church what he quoted to his Grandmama to ask her what did this mean I’ll tell you afterwards but she just couldn’t believe it and so this whole idea today of how we keep our family in our connections
And really pay attention more today of what’s going on with our children got to Rel that fabric yeah it is so important thank you and so ladies and gentlemen that concludes uh our celebration of The Life and Legacy of Dr Mar the king and once
Again I want to thank you for coming and being supportive of this we have made this an annual uh celebration thanks to Father Wilson and to the Church of the Redeemer uh father Ralph I think is here and the Father David and other members of the
Clergy that Father Michael uh is here so we want again thank you for coming and uh certainly want to thank uh alexas and and and Glenda not only for coming but our longstanding friendship and relationship father Wilson thank you I I’m going up to the
Altar and I’m going to say a prayer and give you all a blessing okay please stand and let’s all pray Grant oh God that your holy and lifegiving spirit May so move every human heart and especially the hearts and the people of this city that the barriers which seem to divide us would
Crumble suspicions would disappear and hatreds cease that our sad divisions being healed we may truly live in Justice and peace under the banner of the Prince of Peace who is Jesus Christ Our Lord amen amen and the blessing of God almighty the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost be
Amongst you and remain with you always amen God bless you and thank you
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