 Good afternoon for those of you here in Hawaii. Good evening, other places or good morning, wherever you may be. Thanks so much for joining us for this group's first session of 2022. We're venturing to step forward into a year that we hope will be better than the last two. And we'll talk a little bit about where those questions and concerns are and and what might help us go in better directions this year. We have an all star group. There's no particular reason other than chance. I'm going to start with Louise Ng, because she's the recent winner of the Daniel and no a lifetime achievement award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. That's a really huge important focal group and a very influential one. And so this is, this is an award that takes on a national and international significance and recognition. This is especially impressive because Louise and my experience of knowing her for most of her years has flown under the radar screen with community service with women's rights with lots of areas. The same is true for Tina Patterson, won a number of awards last year. I lost track of the names of all of them so I'm not going to try and recite them all. Our award winner is here, Rebecca Radlev also gathered a handful of awards over this past year. And that's especially impressive in times where people's disconnections and frustrations and the things that weren't coming together. I don't know what numbered those that did so recognition for positive achievement and Sandra Sims are noted author, former judge, community service leader. I mean this is just this is an amazing group of people. But I did want to take a little time to honor each and all of them for the immeasurably valuable insights, experiences and perspectives that each and all bring to the table. So recognizing that. Where do you folks think we're headed in 2022. Sandra let's start with you. I think we're headed is better than where we've been. That's the, that's how I can see things at this point, the last, you know, a couple of years I think we've all just been on this incredible roller coaster of events and and COVID up pushback and going forward and pushing back to the end the impacts that it's had on so many aspects of our of our society health care, the economy. Jobs, all those things have been affected by the last few years. So I think that at this point. What we're doing is definitely going to head to at least to me and I'm beginning to feel that is far better than me not far but certainly in a different direction than where we've been. And, and I continue to feel, you know, optimistic about that despite some of the things that are occurring. And it feels like we're doing the same things over but then there's a part of me that says no we're not. It is different things have changed so I think I'm okay. That's encouraging. I understand that I feel the same way I'm an internal optimist and no matter what I see, I believe that things can always be better, because I really do believe in the human spirit. And I believe that most people are good at their core and more good people than not. And I agree with you Sandra, the instability of jobs housing education food instability, health care, physical and mental health care, lacking in underserved communities. And the civil unrest in our country has been very unsettling on top of this pandemic that that we're all getting through all over the world, which is obviously the meaning of pandemic, which we now are hearing is endemic. I talked to a friend of mine, yesterday I got to see my friend the virologist and infectious disease doctor, Dr. Lane rolling who has been on MSNBC, and black news channel, and he said that omicron is the next is the new flu. So maybe that's what flu is. But we, you know, we are just steadily navigating these menaces, you know, all over the world and it's just, it's just been really hard and so I agree with you, we've got to look forward to better days. And let's all be part of that. Right. You know, what do you think I could take the easy out and say it's already been covered by Sandra and Rebecca, but I'll add addition to that. I think we are. We're one step closer as an organism, and I'm thinking society as a societal level to shift conversations that we began in 2020 and 2021 are starting to take shape. We're taking root. I received an email a few days ago regarding a day of a day of racial healing, which, if you had asked me five years ago, I probably would not have received. And it's, it's, it is a global effort. So I see people talking less about going back to normal, but talking about what the new normal is. So there's, there's hope. There's some sense of optimism and I would be remiss if I didn't say in the midst of all of that somewhat dying away of what's not working and recognizing it. And can we do that in a peaceful manner or does it have to be unsettling and chaotic. Louise, what's your sense. Well, I have to join my fellow panelists in holding out hope, because if I look at the daily news and listen to the daily news reports it can be so maddening and frustrating. You know as Rebecca points out just the social inequities we've been seeing that have been exacerbated by the pandemic and then the divisions in our country and, and just the, you know, the persistent. You know, the politicization of the coronavirus which you know I have seen directly with the impact on France how that just affects so many people who tried to do the right thing, you know, had to die alone for instance because they weren't like visitors in the hospital, or, you know, things like that but I have to, you know, I guess I have to, I think we all have to keep going by looking on the bright side and seeing how that how we can bring our networks and communities together to make positive changes instead of getting wallowing and just the bad stuff going on. And I think some bright spots for me were actually early December, Sandra was there but we had a table of eight women at the Ola Napua Dinner and that's an organization that helps girls who have been sexually abused and trafficked. And it was a all ages and it's range from Miss Hawaii going off to Miss America pageant to us with gray hair and someone, you know, general Susie Varis-Lam who's coming in as the first AAPI women president of East West Center. And it was such a wonderful, you know, conversation and support network. I think we need to depend on things like that. I think Miss Hawaii went off just feeling more supported and empowered by the women there and I think we all did that, you know, there's a great next generation that's coming up. And yeah, that was wonderful. And I think the other high point recently was that we had a CEO search going on in our firm for all our US offices and now we have our first woman CEO who's also an LGBT advocate and her COO is a woman lawyer too. And so the women are firmly in charge. And I just think that that's a real message for the diverse, you know, diversification in our firm and just, you know, that these are champions that will really make sure that diversity and inclusion are baked into our culture too. So happy about those things. And what a great opportunity to have four truly exemplary women leaders who have experienced some things that would probably be insurmountable for a lot of people. I'll bet every one of you has multiple times. And to look at a pandemic that has accelerated and accentuated from a health pandemic to pandemics in almost every other sector of society, housing, employment, environment, climate, everything. And to look at that and to focus as you did so eloquently Tina, that our humanity is in our commonality as an organism, not in our division in organizations. What an amazing perception. One characteristic of the experience and perspective of women leaders. We're in the places where you most look for hope as we move for MLK day Martin Luther King Day in this country, where are the places where you most look for hope and for that organism of humanity to maybe start to regenerate and bloom and come together. Atlanta, of course, of course the birthplace of Dr. King. I wrote I wrote MLK and then you said it. So, as usual, we're all in sync. But the King family has asked that in these in suburbs and in the city that we not do the traditional parades, but instead that organization stand together in protest of the voting. And, you know, the civil inequities that are going on around Atlanta and the state. And, and so again, I did I thought it was brilliant Tina the way you brought that together we had all had our take and then you and then you brought it together just so eloquently. There's hope, but action there there has to be action. We have to stick together we have to strategize, and we can't let up we have to do the things, say the things and be in the places where action can make impact. Excellent. I see the wheels turning for each of you. Andrew, what were you thinking about as Rebecca was, I was thinking, you know, I was thinking because I wanted to hear what Rebecca had to share, particularly, you know, coming from a place that is a center of where we look at the impact of Martin Luther King's life. And of course, we're having that here as well I think the president of our local end of ACP is called for a day and devoted to doing some service projects and he's listed some of those that people can engage in. As a way of recognizing this, this legacy where this, you know, having to come back and still talk about voting rights though is troubling. It's troubling. And I'm, I'm, I'm hopeful that when we make this focal point on voting rights again, and making certain that those voting rights are not taken away I think when we've seen also much of the rhetoric and argument regarding this election is fast election and so many of the falsities and some of the lies that have come up about that that are actually becoming ingrained in some sectors of the society, making it more imperative that we continue with this push on voting rights I think that's going to be really, really important. I also think that because of this group I think so many each of us is, you know, involved in our own sphere of, you know, organizations I know I'm very active with, you know, with links and with serotonous all of those organizations are taking instances on have always taken stances on these issues that are facing us the African American Lawyers Association. Same thing we just had a recent visit with Keith Ellison. And that was a program that we open to the entire community and he spoke about the role, the role of the prosecutor in in the deployed case and his work process. And that was attended by, you know, quite a few folks that are outside of the African American Lawyers Association we made it open. And that's still being again part of what we're doing to keep these issues in the forefront to keep those discussions going and I think what we're doing is, as you know this group you guys are you're some amazing folks. I go back to that dinner I had with Louise and that. Oh my God, I still just kind of reveling in that time where we have women from various sectors, all engaged all involved, all continually working to, you know, address these so many issues that we have from so many perspectives. And that is just so that is encouraging and I think that's kind of what we're continuing to do and be involved in so yeah, yeah Louise is actually quite amazing. She really is to bring that kind of a group together was, and we all sat there in amazement that we didn't all know each other, all of us before then. And we're all friends. And that's an important reference to Keith Ellison. For those viewers who aren't aware is the African American Attorney General of the state of Minnesota who personally took the leadership in the investigation, development and prosecution of the Chauvin George Floyd murder case, and shepherded in ways that he took great pains to describe with fantastic attention to detail and justice and accuracy and truth to a successful conclusion that was based on getting all the truth out there, not just pieces of it, but enough of it to overcome the innuendo, the disinformation, the other things that continue to work in some areas. As we've seen with some other recent trials, unfortunately. So Tina, where do we go from here that looks constructive and helpful to you. I was kind of hoping you'd call on the lease like follow up after her. Where do I look, I'm looking into areas, I'm looking at service. And we've all mentioned it, but it's the service that we that we see organizationally, whether it's our optimist, the links. I know today that there's historically African American fraternities and sororities that have been involved in getting the word out regarding voting, but I'm going to take it on a an even more micro level. I know in my jurisdiction, we were concerned about making sure that people had access to COVID tests at home, COVID tests, because pharmacies were saying they did not have them. And so we went to one of my favorite places, libraries. And so individuals needed the home test could get the test at the library. They just needed to come take a maximum of two, two home tests with them and somebody say, well, it's just two tests, but it's two tests that you probably would not have had access to. And one site within one day 93,000 tests were gone. But I also think my hope also lies with the scientific community. 18 months ago, 24 months ago, at home tests didn't exist. And just seeing how the scientific community is advancing at a rate that I won't call it exponential, but it's moving so quickly that then the stories keep changing, the news keeps changing. In some ways, people find it laughable. But for me, it gives me hope that this is something that we know that people are working on around the clock. So that as a colleague of mine who's a physician she said, Tina, there may be a day when COVID becomes like the common cold and it's just something that you have with your body will address it. And it gives me hope that we have leaders who are making this happen. And we have people who are voting with their choices. And as one friend put it, he said, you know, vaccinations are a vote to and we're now approaching two thirds of the population that can get vaccinated, getting themselves in their families vaccinated. And maybe because vaccination has been so politicized together with masks and testing and other things. Maybe that's a good sign that there is a ground swell at the human level at the organism level at the public health and safety level that notwithstanding a Supreme Court justices refusal to wear a mask next to his colleagues, one of whom is a compromised immune system having diabetes and others compromised in other ways that people are making choices, even after their politicized that reflect putting the collective well being and health first. So Louise, where are you looking for change that might be good for us. Well, when you first mentioned that and I guess I'm like Tina and everybody I'm looking at the macro and the micro level, because we only have control over what's at the micro level and I suppose, yeah, more community involvement I think more support through donations or otherwise community groups that are really helping to make a difference in families lives, but also, you know, I'm getting constantly bombarded by political candidates but I do think it is important for us to support our public servants who are trying to do the right thing. You know, the macro macro level, you know, voting rights, I'm glad the president finally is taking a more vocal stand on voting rights because it just seems to be such a critical factor and making a political difference in our country. Is that and maybe, you know, despite the all the efforts to make people not be critical thinkers and not think about race theory and all of these other things. We really need to be critical thinkers and teach our kids that because just reading the news is just too depressing. And, you know, exactly as Tina says they pick up on all the bad things rather than kind of looking at the overall trends and where science is going in the progress we have made you know the good things that are happening because of the scientists, you know, trying to take a rational evidence based approach to dealing with this virus. So, those are my thoughts. And maybe that's a stronger and broader and deeper place to look for hope for 2022 and beyond is at that human community, even individual and family and level. It's not going to come from our leadership in any of the sectors whether it's legislative judicial executive or other one. But the question is going to be whether the people take back control of the important choices in this country. I think so. This is going to be a challenging year for that. It's going to have to be we the people. And as Louise and Tina were speaking I was thinking about service here in Atlanta we among the divine nine sororities and fraternities we say that King day, Martin Luther King junior day is not a day off but a day on. And that it that speaks to the service that we're committed to do as as organization at the organizational level. But of course it starts with the heart of a servant at the individual level and that's that's that's how you get the organism that Tina is speaking of is all of the different components that that make up the people and the groups and the missions that that those people and groups will execute on and that that's how we'll make a difference and we just have to keep trying. And that's an important insight because coming back to where all of you have touched upon and Louise kind of crystallized for us. Well, it was Reverend King that was in the spotlight. We know that when he was taken unexpectedly and tragically from us that the one who truly stepped up and brought things together and held them together. He was the one who had been doing that for years who was current his widow and still does. And she's still a beacon, a luminary, and more have risen up in all sectors. Sandra you're a note, notable and noteworthy author, Isabel Wilkerson has become one of our most respected and most influential authors for good reason. And this is a very well educated young person who's got a lot of years of leadership ahead of her. As does Stacy Abrams and look what she was able to do. Oh my God. Oh my goodness. Talking about a beacon. It's amazing your city, or your state. Yes, I've had the pleasure of meeting her amazing just this oozing with, I was gonna say the energy that comes on on television and that energy comes forth so clearly in so many ways and there's the there's the connection, and there's the commitment. And of course, she knows what she's doing she knows how to reach people she connects and mobilize. I'm sorry let me just calm down but she really does inspire me. And I commend to your her fiction book or mystery, while justice sleeps. It's a wonderful book. I just finished it. Yeah, and so I think you're right, Chuck, there's the, you know, the, what has happened as ever since those times that you've seen this emergence of these incredible young leaders, and so many women are among those leaders that are stepping forth it wasn't just about one but I know and I and there is in different spheres to it isn't just limited to, you know, the areas of politics who seeing it and you're seeking in the arts, you're seeing it in, in, in, in music you're seeing it in so many of our lives and we didn't always focus on doing civil rights era but this these are the, these are the, this that part when you talk about, you know, being hopeful those are the things I think that are really really going to make this difference as we move forward. So everybody has their role, we just lost Sidney Poitier and what a lot of people didn't know about him was that he and I'm sure I don't know all the names but Harry Bellafonte and Sidney Poitier were two people who stayed in the background and made money. Well, I mean I had the pleasure I'm in Atlanta so this is, you know, the Civil Rights History Museum is walking around, but so I've had the pleasure of hearing Ambassador Andrew Young talk about how when Harry Bellafonte and Sidney Poitier wanted to get involved in the Civil Rights Walks and everything they were like no we need you to stay on the screen, and to make money because we're going to need you to help get some of these people out of jail. That's what they did. Yes, that's what they did. That's what they did. Yes. Yes, people forget that sometimes, you know, they were not just, they weren't just singing and they were helping to fund their litigation. That's right. Everyone has a role. I watched in the heat of the night this weekend because just to look at it again, you know, from that perspective, you know, with him being gone. And what struck me was I didn't realize that movie was done in 1968. And that was not a time of, you know, so much advancement as we are now. It was a very, and for him, and then watching him and watching Rod Reiner, not Rod Reiner, but anyway, watching him take the stances and act out the parts that they did in that time was so powerful. I mean, his role, he and Rod Steiger were just so powerful in those, in that time that was such a critical time for that kind of expression was probably unheard of before that messaging, and then the slap. Oh man. The slap heard round the world. We didn't rehearse that, did we? We didn't rehearse that, Sandra. I heard that wasn't even in the script that he decided. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And he insisted that if he was going to get slapped, it had to go back the other way. And the moment was just, and you think this happened in 1968. Whoa. This is what he stood for. These are the things that, you know, that was how he insisted on being perceived, you know, as black man in a time when that was not something that was occurring everywhere. So I'm going to, you know, Sidney Putty, movie watch this because I'm going to be watching just to remember, you know, the stances that he took and making certain that the way in which, you know, we were portrayed was in a positive way, not. I think we need a Sidney Putty film festival just hearing the tributes to him in his movies. Yeah. Kantena and I come over for that. That's a good idea because we're having to, we had to postpone the African American Film Festival until, and this will be the 10th year, actually last year was the 10th year. postpone it, but that might be something to look at. Let me tell you what we're doing, I think in August this year. Okay, that would be a great body. Great idea, Louise. I think I'll mention that to Taylor and see what she thinks about it. Yeah, I like that. Especially since I can just walk there. It's just block away, but I have to, I have to thank this panel for giving me my reading list and Heather Cox Richardson. It's just a great way of putting things together. I keep wanting to send everybody her, her, you know, her commentary. And then I did start listening to the warmth of other sons. What an interesting book that is. Yeah. Fantastic. So we're out of time for today. But I want it again just to thank all of you on the table, exactly the courage, the character, the conscience and the spirit that we're all going to need to take 2022, where we needed to go to become that organic humanity that you folks have talked about and exemplify. Thank you all come back in a couple of weeks. Join us again. Thanks for your inspiration. Take good care.