Reel Urban News Exclusive
By Michael G. Reel
On the afternoon of Monday, February 23, Dr. David M. Carlisle offered Reel Urban News an early look at the forthcoming President’s Breakfast, presented by Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. Now in its eleventh year, the annual gathering, hosted and moderated by Dr. Carlisle, the university’s President and CEO, continues to serve as one of Southern California’s most thoughtful convenings on equity, justice, and public health.
“I’m very excited,” Dr. Carlisle shared, before announcing this year’s distinguished panelists: Thomas Saenz, President and General Counsel of MALDEF; Connie Rice, renowned civil rights attorney and former member of the Los Angeles Police Commission; Joanna S. Jackson, CEO of the Weingart Foundation; and Tavis Smiley, acclaimed broadcaster and media voice.
The theme for the 11th Annual President’s Breakfast, “Civil Rights in the 21st Century,” arrives at a moment Dr. Carlisle describes as a national crossroads.
“That’s a really interesting theme because we’re at an inflection point where we’re losing our last heroes from the civil rights movement,” he reflected. “Last week we just lost Reverend Jesse Jackson. And so time is passing, and when that’s happening, we’re losing first‑person memories of the civil rights movement. All we can carry with us are the distant memories of the movement.”
When asked why a medical university would center its signature annual event on civil rights, Dr. Carlisle offered immediate clarity.
“You can’t be a medical person if you’re not concerned about civil rights,” he said. “One of the important things about medicine is recognizing that every patient is a human being, every patient is equal. Every patient should have the same right to health care. That’s part of medical education, and that’s very much a part of civil rights.”
For Dr. Carlisle, the connection is not theoretical, it is foundational. As president of one of only four Black medical universities in the nation, he views civil rights not as an adjacent topic, but as a core pillar of CDU’s mission.
As the conversation turned toward the historicity of civil rights and the challenge of convincing elders to share their stories, Dr. Carlisle underscored why capturing these memories must become a priority for Black America.
The passing of iconic figures like Reverend Jesse Jackson, he noted, signals not only the end of an era but the gradual fading of firsthand accounts that shaped the nation.
“One of the names that I should mention, of course, is that of Dolores Huerta, who’s going to be with us Friday morning,” he said. “She has those first‑person memories of being directly on the front lines of the civil rights movement here in California.”
Dr. Carlisle emphasized that any discussion of civil rights must be grounded in place, and Los Angeles, he argued, is essential to that story.
“I think it’s important to put this in the context of Los Angeles, because L.A. was an epicenter of the civil rights movement in many ways, and was also the epicenter of civil rights issues in many ways.”
He traced a historical arc that reveals the city’s long, complex relationship with race, justice, and community:
- The Pobladores of 1781, whose diverse origins included people of African descent
- The 1870 Chinatown Massacre
- The 1930s Zoot Suit Riots
- The 1965 Watts Rebellion
- The 1992 Los Angeles Uprising
“Our history as a city, our history as an institution, is replete with civil rights,” Dr. Carlisle said. “It’s important for us and our audience to understand that it’s part of the context of the university.”
As the interview drew to a close, Dr. Carlisle reflected on what he hopes attendees will take away from this year’s President’s Breakfast.
“We want people to depart with an understanding or more knowledge about how you fast-forward from the events of the 1930s and ’40s and ’50s and ’60s into the present day world, and how you carry the realities of the civil rights movement from the 20th century into the present day of the 21st century,” he said. “While things have changed, we don’t have bus boycotts right now, but we have other kinds of boycotts that we’re involved in.”
Despite the challenges, Dr. Carlisle’s outlook remains grounded in optimism and purpose.
“The context has changed,” he said passionately. “The issue remains the same in so many ways. And civil rights, again, is a broad topic. Are there many, many examples of civil rights that need to be pursued? I think the audience will leave the breakfast with that understanding as well.”
