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Al Roker Discusses Diversity In North Shore LIJ's System for MLK Day

TV personality Al Roker was among many diverse speakers and performers at this year's Martin Luther King Jr. memorial program.

As part of its efforts to promote and encourage diversity and inclusion, the North Shore University Hospital hosted its annual Martin Luther King Jr. memorial program on Friday Jan. 14 in Manhasset honoring the life and legacy of the late civil rights activist. This year’s special guest and key note speaker was 10-time Emmy award winner Al Roker, the weather anchor of NBC’s The Today Show.

The ceremony, which was appropriately themed “One World, One Dream,” integrated Dr.King’s message and North Shore-LIJ Health System’s vision of unity by including speakers and performers from all cultures, races and religions.

“We exist as a health system in one of the most diverse communities in the world," said Michael Dowling, president and CEO of the North Shore LIJ Health System in his welcome speech. "Queens and the city metropolitan area is so unbelievably diverse with every conceivable nationality, religion, culture, ethnic group, economic group, living and working and celebrating and suffering all together.  This is the world that we live in.  This is the world that we have got to appreciate and recognize and acknowledge and we can only do that when we recognize and acknowledge one another.”

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Dowling urged the audience to think about what the life of Martin Luther King Jr. meant and what it means to us as individuals today. 

“Many people are here today because of the leadership of Martin Luther King…that is something  we should always celebrate and reflect on,” Dowling said.

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Testimony of Dowling’s words was displayed in the program’s multi-cultured line-up which showcased the welding of cultural diversity the network of hospitals strives to achieve.

North Shore Pastoral Care Chaplin Philip Thomas of East Indian heritage led the opening prayer. "Every Voice and Sing” was sung by Denise Dyce, an African American singer and Labor Relations Manager of the Forest Hills Hospitals, Maria Liang, an Asian American student of Hunter College High School who performed the Classical Chinese Dance the Peacock Dance and Senior Rabbi Meir Feldman of Temple Beth-El in Great Neck recited the closing benediction.

Guest speaker Al Roker praised the hospital for encouraging inclusion among staff and patients. He spoke of the many days spent at North Shore Manhasset while his late mother fought for her life.

“There is inclusion, love and care here," Roker said in his speech. "It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you are on TV or someone famous; you are always treated as a person. For that I applaud the hospital and its staff."

Roker shared with the audience the affect Dr.King’s message had on him and his upbringing and the affect that it still has on his life today.  He reflected on his childhood in the 1960s and the struggles endured by his parents, particularly his father, who was a talented commercial artist but struggled to make his way because of the racial climate of that era.

“We followed Dr.King in the 60s and what was going on," Roker said. "It was a time of evil and uncertainty….I was watching change happen."

However, thanks to the efforts of Dr. King, his father later retired as the head of labor relations for transit in Manhattan and the Bronx and Roker himself went on to be the first African American presence at the anchor desk as a weatherman at WTVH-TV in Syracuse, New York in 1974.

Roker reminded the audience that “the only way for all of us, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, to move forward together, is to walk together, heads held high.” 

Roker concluded his speech using the words of Dr. King, "Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continued struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man cannot ride you if your back is bent. So let us straighten our backs, heads held high and move forward into a better tomorrow.”

This hospital has been hosting a Martin Luther King Day program for 41 years. The ceremony was originally spearheaded by Robert McGhee, a food service manager at North Shore who found the courage to approach the administration with an inspiring idea to hold a service celebrating the life of Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his message. McGhee was overwhelmed when the administration agreed and asked him to participate in the first program back in 1970. Now 43 years after Dr. King’s death, McGhee still sits among hundreds of other the employees in the hospital’s Rust Auditorium, honoring the teachings and visions of Dr. King.

McGhee, who is now retired, said he wanted to “unite friends and co-workers in a celebration of Dr. King’s message with hopes to keep his dream alive.”

Susan Somerville, Executive Director of the hospital said, “I wonder what Dr.King would think if he saw us now…beyond civil rights, the growth of culture and diversity and how it continues to grow today. It is not only a celebration of the life and memory of Martin Luther King, but also a celebration of people.”

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