Moffitt Recognizes MLK, Encourages Racial Healing
Every year Moffitt Cancer Center recognizes the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by encouraging its team members to volunteer in the community in “a day of service.”
While that message is still prevalent and socially distant volunteering is encouraged, this year, the cancer center is also focused on racial healing.
“The contributions, 365 days each year, of our richly diverse body of team members move us one step closer to the prevention and cure of cancer each day,” said Dr. B. Lee Green, vice president of Moffitt Diversity, Public Relations & Strategic Communications. “We are a diverse and unified team, which strengthens us and fosters the trust, respect and collaboration that is core to our being.”
Moffitt team members will participate in the annual National Day of Racial Healing on Tuesday, Jan. 19, one day after the nation remembers Martin Luther King Jr. The day is set aside to have essential and timely conversations on racial healing, equity and justice. This is the fifth year for the National Day of Healing, a program created by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation effort.
As part of its participation, the cancer center will host an inaugural observance and host a day of honest conversations about racial healing and how to create an equitable society for its team members.
“The National Day of Racial Healing centers around experiences rooted in truth-telling, offering people, organizations and communities a day set aside for racial healing, bringing people together to take collective action for a more just and equitable world,” according to the Kellogg Foundation. “Racial healing recognizes the need to acknowledge and tell the truth about past wrongs created by individual and systemic racism and address the present consequences. It can facilitate trust and build authentic relationships that bridge divides created by real and perceived differences.”
Diversity and inclusion are founding values of Moffitt and recognizing a day of racial healing on the heels of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday gives team members, patients and the community a time to focus on a better future.
