# Troop Support strives to “Inspire Change” during Black History Month observance

/ Published Feb. 16, 2023
PHILADELPHIA, 
The Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support hosted their annual Black History Month event February 9, honoring this year’s national theme, “Inspiring Change.”

Kishayra J. Lambert, DLA Troop Support’s first black woman deputy commander, said the theme is about recognizing the Civil Rights efforts of the past, and how they serve as the foundation for present and future advancements.

“While we all know the scarred history of our nation’s past, we must also acknowledge the strides that have been made towards equality,” she said. “Today, our nation has many champions who are on the front lines of change. Those working hard and striving to eradicate the injustices of our present to improve our nation for future generations. Our guest speaker today is one of those champions.”

Keynote speaker Patrice Gaines was an award-winning newspaper reporter for 23 years, 16 of those with the Washington Post. She is one of five authors of the book “Say Their Names: How Black Lives Came to Matter in America,” and has authored two other non-fiction books. As a motivational speaker, Ms. Gaines travels the country, talking at conferences, luncheons, colleges, and to groups such as teachers, judges, counselors, at-risk teens and recovering addicts.

Gaines, spoke about her personal life and experiences, and how they inspired change within herself.

“There’s a quote by James Baldwin that says, ‘not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it’s faced,” she said. “Which, to me means facing the truth. Only through facing the truth can we inspire change. And the hardest truth to face is the personal truth of ourselves.”

Gaines was born into a military family; her father, one of the first black U.S. Marines, raised her and her six siblings with the strict regimen and discipline of a drill instructor. As she got older, Gaines began rebelling against his authoritarian parenting style.

“As a teenager, I hated my father,” she said. “Hate maybe too strong of a word, but I wore a huge afro and shouted, ‘black power.’ And while I considered the youth protesting and rioting after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, as young people outraged at white supremacy, he considered them thugs burning the city.”

Gaines continued her rebellious streak, choosing companions whose “street-savvy, swagged-out” lives were the opposite of her “buttoned-down, jean-pressed” fathers.

“I was simply attracted to the boys who lived unconventionally, or nontraditionally,” she said. “It would be years before I realized what I was doing. It was a deliberate pattern. I was choosing a manifestation of my unacknowledged anger.”

By the time she was 21 years old, Gaines had a child, a drug habit and had been arrested for possession and intent to distribute heroin when her friends unknowingly sold an undercover agent a joint at a Steppenwolf concert. They had a small amount of heroin for their personal use.

“Nothing can be changed until it is faced, and I had to face the fact that I had created the life that I was living,” she said. “Yes, there were circumstances that had to be dealt with like racism, sexism and others, but I had to learn the knowledge that I had immense power in this mind and this body, and I could decide how I was going to react to these conditions.”

Now a convicted felon with a young child, Gaines started taking steps to change her life path.

“It took years and three therapists to work through my troubles,” she said. “Not over it, not around it, but through it. I read countless self-help books. I quit friends and earned new ones. I started writing. I did the work, inspired by a little girl, a child who was watching me to witness how one becomes a woman. A truly healthy person.”

Gaines went on to win numerous awards during her journalism career, including the National Black Journalists First Place Award for Commentary, and was awarded a Michigan Journalism Fellowship at the University of Michigan. She has been published in many publications and has appeared on many television shows including “Dateline” and “Oprah.”

“This is what we have to remember: to inspire change, you have to look at yourself first,” she said. “Change what you need to change about you. Don’t wait until you have all the answers to try and inspire change. Tackle the tasks and stand with love, prayer, and hope. Have patience. Release judgement. Expand compassion. Persevere. Change takes time. Never, never, never, give up.”