by Lenna Liu

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s portrait hung in the entryway of Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic’s (OBCC) Central District location where I spent most of my 30-year pediatric career. Birthed during the Civil Rights era for Seattle’s Black community, this beloved clinic was where I had my education in Black history. It was here where we celebrated Juneteenth, singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” decades before Juneteenth became a federal holiday. It was here, where our motto has been “quality care with dignity,” that I practiced seeing the dignity inherent in every person, no matter their circumstances. It was here where I grew to understand how much of the “dis-ease” we see in medicine is the impact of social determinants of health, such as poverty, oppression, and trauma. It was here where I learned in real day-to-day tangible ways how the history of Black Americans has continued to play out as lingering inequities in housing, schooling, and even access to healthy foods, decades after our country has been trying to right these wrongs.