Below is the text of the remarks delivered by Attorney Tina M. Patterson, Esq., the President and Director of Research at The PuLSE Institute during the The Institute’s 2025 Civil Rights Leadership Dinner where the venerable civil rights leader and trusted Martin Luther King Jr. lieutenant, the Rev. Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr., was honored. The celebration was held on Tuesday, July 22 at the Detroit Athletic Club in downtown Detroit.
Good evening, and thank you all for your presence here tonight as we celebrate a very special event for a very special testament of living history, Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr., National Chairman of the SCLC founded by Dr. King, and one of Dr. King’s top lieutenants.
I am Attorney Tina Patterson, President and Director of Research here at The PuLSE Institute. Welcome.
Here we are toward the end of July already. These summer months go by so quickly, and it is a constant reminder to myself, and to many others I’m sure, that life is so fleeting. Time is so precious, so constant, and so fluid. Too often we don’t find the time, make the time, or miss the time to get around to what matters to us the most.
And that includes celebration and gratitude to those who have contributed immensely to our society, to our individual lives, and who have shaped global history in their respective times. Their sacrifices allowed so many of us to achieve and excel, at levels previously unimaginable. And too often, we never get the time to say Thank You, and to uplift and honor those individuals while they still walk among us.
How privileged are we this evening, that we get the chance, we take the time, we have made the time, to do just that- celebrate and honor an individual who has contributed so much to this life that we get to live and enjoy, during a time when the most hostile and oppressive forces were literally killing anyone who dared to dream of the moment we are now experiencing.
As a student of history, I am personally honored to welcome you all here this evening to celebrate Dr. LaFayette. Many of you know about the globally revered and recognized Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and have heard about the significant historical events that occurred during that period, such as the Selma, Alabama voting rights campaign, the Freedom Riders of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), and the Poor People’s Campaign.
We remember and have learned about these monumental moments in history in school, from the earliest elementary level through the sophisticated college and graduate level curriculum. Tonight, we honor and celebrate someone who didn’t study it or learn about it in school, but from the primary source, someone who lived it. Who endured it.
And who overcame it. And is still a fresh source of wisdom to our generation, as we build upon the legacy of our past to elevate the quality of life to the next generation, and all generations to come.
From the beginning of the founding of The PuLSE Institute, Dr. LaFayette has been a ready help to share his knowledge, and a pillar of inspiration, as he still travels the world teaching the application of nonviolent principles, as well as continuing to keep alive the legacy of Dr. King through his chairmanship at the SCLC.
It is our honor tonight, to welcome him as our guest of honor at this very special event, and to hear from him as he pours out his incredible story and wisdom to share with us in this moment. I encourage you to listen intently and sincerely. This moment in history will not return this way again.
On behalf of The Institute, our board, and our founding Dean and Editor-in-Chief, Bankole Thompson; As the President and Director of Research, and also as the little girl who grew up learning about the Civil Rights Movement from a Black father born in the Jim Crow South in Tuskegee, Alabama; the girl who at age 12, decided to become an attorney to right the historical wrongs of the law, and the Attorney and woman in position of leadership, who now has the extreme privilege and responsibility to do just what she set out to do because of the sacrifices you made, I want to say to you, Dr. LaFayette… Thank You.
Thank you all again. Enjoy this evening, and appreciate this moment.
Attorney Tina M. Patterson is a nationally recognized legal authority whose work has been cited in the Georgetown Law Journal on Poverty Law and Policy. A former federal government attorney for the United States Social Security Administration, Patterson advised and wrote the appellate opinions of administrative law judges across the United States and Puerto Rico. Currently, Attorney Patterson is the Principal Attorney of Patterson Justice Counsel, PLLC and the President and Director of Research at The PuLSE Institute, both headquartered in historic Detroit, Michigan.
With over a decade of legal expertise and prolific public commentary, she has built and led widespread, influential businesses and nonprofit organizations. Her work has established her as a prominent woman in executive leadership, including being one of the handful of Black women leading major national think tanks and among the rare 2% of Black women lawyers in the United States.