The Advocate

There comes a moment when each of us must ask ourselves, am I an observer or am I a witness? An observer watches, passively, consuming events from the sidelines as if they were an isolated island. A witness is active and affirming, participating in the world as it exists to provide information in order to create understanding. I choose to be a witness. "In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Bernard Ashcraft has been a drum major for social and economic justice for over 50 years. First, as a navy corpsman protesting racism in the military, then as a local leader in San Diego during the Civil Rights Movement before moving to the Bay Area in the mid-90s to continue his work building more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations across the socio-political spectrum. He has made extraordinary achievements tackling disparities in public/private employment contracts for BIPOC workers and virule...