Rights of All Citizens

Last weekend my wife and I attended a wedding in Memphis. In addition to seeing wonderful old friends, we played tourists and visited Graceland and the National Civil Rights Museum at the sight of the Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. The exhibits there highlighted for me how far our country has come in the last fifty years. Having grown up in Hawaii, I had experienced a multi-racial culture but had little first hand knowledge of the struggle of African-Americans. Our country has made strides but still has racism as well as other problems to deal with. One other issue I spent time on this week was elder abuse. As part of my role on the Aging Advisor Council for my county, I attended a presentation on elder abuse. Much as protecting the rights of all races and genders, age is another dimension that we all need to be aware of. In the current economy older citizens are being taken advantage of financially as well as abused physically and sexually. In August I will participate in a two day training program on elder abuse that will be tested with volunteers before being taken to local law enforcement agencies. I will keep you informed as I learn more.