Injustices in health care are among the most shocking and inhumane in the world, Partners in Health founder Dr. Paul Farmer told 1,400 people gathered at Boston University for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
‘The ghost of white supremacy may have faded since King’s time, but the all-encompassing struggle for social justice is in some ways still in its infancy,’ Farmer, a medical anthropologist and physician, said at the Metcalf Ballroom Monday afternoon.
Farmer said doctors’ goals of caring for the sick align with King’s priorities, and his organization, Partners in Health, works to provide health care in low-income communities. BU invited Farmer to speak as part of an annual commemoration of King’s life and legacy, who received his graduate degree from BU in 1955 and an honorary degree in 1959.
The Office of the Dean of Students and the Howard Thurman Center organized the gathering.
‘BU has been celebrating Martin Luther King Day since 1972, well before it became a national holiday,’ said Katherine Hasenauer, assistant to the Dean of Students. ‘Every year, we invite a speaker who we think really harks back to King’s message.’
Farmer spoke about the need for individuals to spearhead efforts against daunting problems and the dangers of power, drawing from the commemoration’s theme of the ‘drum major instinct,’ a phrase King used to describe the human impulse toward leadership in a 1968 sermon delivered at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
‘We need to acknowledge the drum major instinct in all of us,’ Farmer said. ‘If it were not for this instinct, we would not be where we are today.’
‘King saw the darker side of leadership, how the quest for personal effulgence can compromise the goals of equality and justice for all,’ Farmer said.
King’s awareness of this risk ensured he never became a ‘gaudy and flashy brand,’ but rather remained a true ‘servant’ of the people,she said.
Farmer compared King’s goals of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and caring for the sick to the priorities of doctors.
‘These are precisely the priorities that should guide public policy today,’ Farmer said. ‘Martin Luther King’s dreams are those we need to inspire us.’
Tufts University sophomore Ian Hainline, said he wanted to hear Farmer speak after reading his biography, ‘Mountains Beyond Mountains,’ which drew a parallel between King and Farmer.
‘Both cared about the greater good, worked for the betterment of all and made the world a better place,’ he said.
School of Education graduate student Yeon Jung Hong said Farmer’s speech was the highlight of the day.
‘I think he’s a very brave person, and I deeply admire the work he has done in the development field,’ Hong said.
Melania Naguerou, an English teacher at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, said as Barack Obama has prepared for inauguration, she has noticed similarities in King’s messages and the new president.
‘Both King and Obama offer hope for the world, hope for equal rights and opportunities for all,’ she said. ‘They both did something different.’
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