Dr. Brian Williams on Racism, Gun Violence, and Healing America: From Trauma Surgeon to Congressional Candidate

When the harsh realities of racism and gun violence collide, the result can be life altering. This week's guest, Dr. Brian Williams, a trauma surgeon turned congressional candidate, opens up about one such pivotal night that altered his trajectory: the July 7, 2016 Dallas protest shooting.  Amid the chaos of that evening, Dr. Williams found his voice in advocacy, pushing for societal healing and unity in the face of discrimination and tragedy.  As we listen to his journey, you'll feel the weight of history and the urgency of his mission to serve a nation, especially as he reflects on his family's military legacy and the racial barriers they've endured.

Our conversation with Dr. Williams doesn't shy away from the uncomfortable truths that lay at the intersection of professional obligation and racial identity.  His impromptu call for unity, born from the depths of despair and hope after the Dallas shooting, serves as a powerful reminder of the work needed to forge safer communities.  Dr. Williams's experience as a Black man in America and his commitment to ending violence extend into our discussion on the role of empathy and storytelling. It's an exploration of how these tools can lead to profound social change and the importance of acknowledging our shared humanity to overcome health disparities and systemic injustice.

By the end of our dialogue, it's evident that Dr. Williams is not only a physician committed to saving lives but also a visionary aiming to reshape the fabric of our society.  He shares insights from his book, "The Bodies Keep Coming" and discusses his aspirations for Congress—where his unique perspective as a trauma surgeon, veteran, and Black American can influence policy for the betterment of all. This episode is an invitation to recognize the potential for change that each of us holds and the critical impact our individual actions can have on the collective journey toward equity and justice. Join us for this powerful episode, and leave with a renewed understanding of the complexities of race, gun violence, and the potential for healing in America.

The Bodies Keep Coming: Dispatches From a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, Violence, and How We Heal

https://brianwilliamsmd.com/
https://drbrianwilliamsforcongress.com/

If you enjoyed this show, please leave a positive review and share with your friends. Thank you! Osha

Transcript

Osha Hayden: 0:11

I think we're all aware of the racism here in America, but what we don't see are the bodies riddled with gunshot wounds who arrive in the trauma centers across our country. What we don't know is what it's like to try to save the lives of these mostly young black men, and what is hard to imagine is what it is like for a black trauma surgeon to work all night to try to save the lives of multiple police officers who were shot by a black man at an otherwise peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration. Dr Brian Williams, the surgeon who worked to save the police officers who were shot on 7-7 in Dallas, is with us today to talk about how we can address the gun violence epidemic, health inequity and structural racism that keeps the bodies coming to trauma centers across the US. Dr Brian H Williams is an Air Force Academy alumnus, a Harvard-trained surgeon, a former congressional health policy advisor and a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of public policy and structural racism, gun violence and health equity. He has treated gun violence victims for more than two decades.

Osha Hayden: 1:31

Dr Williams has served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation congressional health policy fellow at the National Academy of Medicine and as a trauma and acute care surgeon at UT Southwestern Medical Center and at the University of Chicago Medicine. He is the author of the Bodies Keep Coming Dispatches from a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, violence and how we Heal. He is currently running for the US Congress in the state of Texas. Welcome to the show, dr Brian Williams.

Dr. Brian Williams: 2:07

Oh sure, Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Osha Hayden: 2:10

So I just wanted to start out with this piece of information. People may not know about you, but you belong to an long, unbroken line of Williams men who've served in the United States Air Force and yet who've been tormented by racist treatment in the same country that they've served you. Your father, your grandfather and your great-grandfather have all served in the Air Force, so what is that like to serve your country and then yet not receive equal treatment?

Dr. Brian Williams: 2:45

Yeah, I come from a long line of veterans and we trace our military service going all the way back to the Civil War, so somewhere in the Army, then in the Air Force after World War II. And I think just to speak to this legacy of service within my family recognizing and accepting that although our country is imperfect in many ways when it comes to how we deal with a legacy of racism, that we still show up and try to push America to manifest these ideals which we are professed in the Constitution about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So, despite the maltreatment, the racist treatment, we as Williams service members are still committed to do our part to manifest that reality for the future generations. We can't stop, but we continue to do that work and I feel very proud of the legacy that my family has had in service to this country.

Osha Hayden: 3:38

And thank you for your service to this country. So let's just get right into 7-7, that really eventful day, because that was a Talk about cognitive dissonance to be in a situation like that. What do you want to tell us about that day?

Dr. Brian Williams: 3:56

I still think about July 7, 2016 every day. It's just always with me. For context, we had 14 police officers that were ambushed by an Army veteran who was there protesting the deaths of Black men after routine police encounters. And if you go back to that time, oh sure that was in the days after Alton Strulling was shot and killed in Baton Rouge, louisiana, and Philando Castile in Minnesota. If you recall, his death was live streamed on Facebook by his girlfriend, who was in the seat of the car next to him, pulled over during routine stop and, within 20 seconds of being pulled over, had multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, several of which pierced his heart.

Dr. Brian Williams: 4:36

On July 7, there were protests scheduled all around the country to bring awareness to this, and that night, the one in Dallas became deadly. It was a peaceful protest up until the end, when this sniper opened fire on these police officers who were providing security for the event. Seven of the officers were brought to the hospital where I was working that night, and three of whom had critical injuries and died from their wounds. And at the end, I did something I've done many times, which is change out of bloody scrubs, put on clean scrubs and deliver this devastating news to family members about the death of someone they care about and afterwards. That was a transformative moment for me and I still think about it to this day. But it set me down on a path of where I could do more to contribute to the healing of our community and the country.

Osha Hayden: 5:24

And you were called to appear on a news conference about that event and at first you didn't want to go. You were really hesitant to go and be there. So do you want to tell us a little bit about why you didn't want to go really? And how did that conference and the comments that you made there, how did that change everything?

Dr. Brian Williams: 5:48

To say I was hesitant to attend this press conference four days after shooting is being generous. I was adamant that I would not attend and it was my wife who convinced me otherwise. But I didn't want to go to this conference because one, this was a traumatic night for me. Osha and I was still in the night in my head nonstop and I did not want to be in front of cameras and microphones and strangers reliving that event. Two, I felt that there were others there that could talk about this, because you may have seen these press conferences after a mass shooting.

Dr. Brian Williams: 6:21

They follow a certain script the number of shots, the number of dead but the hospital response was and I didn't feel like they needed to have me there to do that. It was my wife. She was adamant, like you know. Brian, you have to go because the country needs to see that there was a black surgeon there trying to save these police officers Because, as you mentioned before, it was a black sniper that an ambushed white police officers and, just to be clear, not all the police officers were white, but he was there to shoot white police officers. That was his intent and in the country there was just this rhetoric. Black lives matter. All lives matter. Blue lives matter. And I had tuned out from all that and my wife brought me back in to it and said you need to have a presence there, even if you don't speak. You just need to show up there so people can see that you were there trying to do the right thing.

Osha Hayden: 7:11

And so the comments that you made when you went surprised you.

Dr. Brian Williams: 7:15

Oh yeah, I had no intent to speak, I had no speaking part, but as the press conference progressed, what was unsaid really didn't sit well with me and I had this internal conflict like, should I say something? I'm knowing enough? I did, there would be blowback, I would lose friends and my colleagues may not be appreciative of what I said, but I felt if I didn't say something it would never happen again and there are people who would never have the opportunity to speak up about what I thought we should be talking about escalating gun violence, the ongoing deaths of black men after routine police encounters, this lack of open and honest and difficult discussions about the legacy of racism in our country. This is an opportunity to do something about that as a path forward towards healing.

Dr. Brian Williams: 8:05

Microphone came to me and I just I said these words, unscripted, unplanned, but they resonated. And even to this day, years later, people come up to me and I'll say, hey, I remember just watching your press conference that day and I have to remind them it wasn't my press conference. This was an hour press conference where seven people spoke, but what people remember is the two minutes where I made this impromptu statement. I think it just speaks to all of us. We all can make a difference if we show up, they're willing to speak up Things that matter.

Osha Hayden: 8:36

And do you want to tell us about what you said or direct people to go find it on?

Dr. Brian Williams: 8:43

I guess one place you can go to watch the clip is if you go to my website, Brian Williams md. com, and there's the media tab which will take you to the clip. It's all over YouTube. Essentially, I said I understand the anger and the frustration, but this killing, it has to stop. We can't go around killing cops. We can't go around killing black men and forgetting about them. This violence is escalating and it will not end until we come together and end all this. So it was a recognition of how I felt as a black man in this country, my experiences as a trauma surgeon, but also a real call to unity in order to create communities that were safer for us all. And it was unscripted, unplanned, but it became a viral media moment that still impacts my life to this day.

Osha Hayden: 9:35

And you yourself have suffered from discrimination. You've had a number of incidents where you weren't doing anything and you ended up getting pulled over and going through the whole rigmarold. You want to talk a little bit about some of them. One was right outside your Air Force base as you were serving the United States.

Dr. Brian Williams: 9:52

I was taught from a very young age by my parents how I'm supposed to behave. If I were pulled over by a cop, this could be a life-threatening encounter. Many people may not think of it that way, but I can now recognize that that can be true, particularly for black men in this country, and I described events in the book that happened decades ago where I've been pulled over. The routine stops and for me, I'm not worried if I'm going to get a ticket or not. I'm worried if I'm going to come out of this encounter alive or not.

Dr. Brian Williams: 10:19

And I think this would resonate during the press conference is that I injected my personal experiences into what I was saying Again, unplanned, but people saw that we all have this shared humanity and that is what resonated. But I don't say that because I want pity or to be treated differently. It's just there's the reality of the world we live in. So for us to move forward, we have to acknowledge that, so that we all have an opportunity to thrive. So that's what I did by sharing my stories Like here's what's happened to me. You may not believe it could happen to me, but it has. Many times. I don't let this hold me back. I use this as a means to bridge community and create a world where we all feel safe and can thrive.

Osha Hayden: 11:01

Right. That is very important, I think, for people to understand. They think, oh well, it can't happen here. Well, yes, it does. It does happen all the time and that's important to acknowledge. And now I think we have seen so many examples of innocent black men being pulled over and murdered, and even in front of our eyes, and I think people have awakened now to what it is really like to be black in America, to be black while driving or, you know, standing on the street or anything else. And you have decided, after trying to patch up all these hundreds or thousands of young beautiful in their prime black bodies, you have decided to do everything in your power to address the gun violence and the racism and the structural racism that keeps these things in continuity, just continuing and continuing. So do you want to talk a little bit about that and your campaign now, what it is that you're trying to do to change this reality that I think is so upsetting for so many people?

Dr. Brian Williams: 12:14

Absolutely, osha. As you alluded to, I am now running for Congress and, if elected, I'd be the first trauma surgeon elected to Congress. I'd also be the first black doctor who could vote in Congress, so this could be an historic election. But what drove me to this is just my history of public service as an Air Force veteran and as a doctor and just seeing the impact of gun violence on individuals and families and communities. And what can I do to be part of systemic change? Right Within the hospital I have great one-on-one interactions with patients and I can impact a couple hundred per year. But as a member of Congress, that impact is much greater, to the tunes of hundreds of thousands of millions per year, and to take my experience and bring that into Congress is where I hope to make a much bigger difference to keep us all safe.

Dr. Brian Williams: 13:12

But it's using gun violence as a means to address these other issues, and that's what in the book I wanted to address. Bigger issues, right, there are structural racism, our democracy, and by pulling you in I wanted to hook you in to the story. There's a lot of storytelling and personal narrative so that you're enveloped in the story, but along the way, osha, we're going to learn about these other, much bigger issues and, most importantly, what's the path towards healing like? How can we be part of the solution? Because, in the end, when we're talking about all this heavy stuff, there is hope. We all can make a difference. And that is the end point of the book is to call to action, to get people to be part of the solution, to create a better world.

Osha Hayden: 13:58

And I think that is what my listeners want, is to know what they can do to change this, because it's just heartbreaking. Well, let's go to a short break and we'll be right back in just a moment with Dr Brian H Williams. Stay tuned, in case you're just joining us, this is Aspire, with Osha Art, nature, humanity, and I'm your host, Osha Hayden, and I am here with Dr Brian H Williams, a trauma surgeon who is also running for US Congress. We're talking about racism, structural racism, gun violence and how to change these things, how to change these inequities, moving forward so that we could all come together and work together and express ourselves in the way that we are here to do.

Osha Hayden: 15:01

We were talking about the protests that happened and your response as a surgeon, because you were the one who was there patching up seven of those police officers who were shot on the night of 7-7 in Dallas. We were talking about your journey to address that structural racism and gun violence and inequity. In your run for the US Congress, you say, "I was a veteran surgeon and scholar struggling with what it meant to be black and routinely deal with the worst kinds of violence perpetrated against my people. What you're talking about is the systemic and structural racism that began with slavery and continues to this day. Can you talk about the barrier between your personal identity as a black man and your professional identity as a black doctor when you were serving as a doctor?

Dr. Brian Williams: 16:00

Oh sure, I was masterful at segregating those parts of my life from each other and just keeping these strict walls when I was at work as a doctor, just getting my job done as a doctor and separating that from the reality I lived as a black man in this country and trying not to let those two intertwine. I wanted to be successful at work. I didn't want to do or say anything that would maybe interfere with my professional progress, or lose support of my colleagues, but the reality is that's just not a way to live. We should not have to trade our authenticity for acceptance, which is what I had done and I realized that prevented me from having genuine connections with a lot of people as a result, despite my outward success. Right, we can do this, I think you want to say you can be very successful at what you do, even if you're not bringing your authentic self to work every day. And that's how I had lived.

Dr. Brian Williams: 16:55

I didn't want to talk about getting pulled over by police officers and fearing for my life, or how many times I've been called the N word for no good reason, or even at work in the hospital. But now I realize that I could have been a much better doctor, a much better colleague, a much better teacher if I had embraced all of that and not tried to hide it. And that's the life I'm living now, and it's also part of the reason why you know what I feel like. I would be a good congressman because of my experience in the military and in medicine and having served. But also we're speaking to people with lived experiences that are willing to serve on behalf of the country and to bring that reality to Congress. I think I will be. Actually, I know, no doubt, that would make me an effective member of Congress in service to the community that I'm trying to uplift.

Osha Hayden: 17:45

I want to come back to your book for a moment, The bodies Keep Coming. I have to say I read the book and it is an excellent book and it does really pull you in and give you a behind the scenes view of what it's like to be a trauma surgeon and I think also the extent of the violence that's going on, the frequency of young black bodies being carted into the emergency room with gunshot wounds. So The Bodies Keep Coming, by Brian H Williams MD. I think you might want to read it. It's a really good book and, though it deals with a difficult subject, it also talks about that structural violence. It weaves those things into the story and could you talk a little bit about that? I mean, some of the statistics that you quote in the book really are just astounding.

Dr. Brian Williams: 18:42

Thank you, osha. I really wanted this to be an enjoyable read by hooking onto that part of you that connects you to our shared humanity and pull you into the story. So using a lot of personal narrative to pull you along the story, but also wanted to teach without sounding like I was lecturing you as well. So there's a personal narrative, there are the what's happening while I'm in the hospital, but weaving in the statistics so you can learn some things about how structural racism impacts pretty much every facet of our society, like one where I talked about that there are less black men entering medical school now than there were back in the 70s. You know we're talking about two generations later. There are less of us going into medicine than there were back then.

Dr. Brian Williams: 19:27

Talk about how there's so much preventable death, particularly in communities of color, due to structures that have been put in place to segregate people. You know you put communities of black residents adjacent to a municipal dump or factories. You can imagine that their health outcomes would be worse, and we do have the evidence that shows that that is the case. So I want to show really how we can fix that so that everyone can thrive. So looking at how the structures that have been put in place need to be removed, but also by radically reinvesting in these communities. So I don't want to bore you with all of that reality, but to pull you in with the story and then interweave all of the information along the way. Hopefully, at the end you will see things differently, but also you will know you're called to do something differently after reading the book.

Osha Hayden: 20:18

And there is a lot that can be done. There's a ton that can be done. I mean, we could start with gun violence. Isn't there a bill right now that the Democrats brought forward to address gun violence and the very next day it was shot down by the Republicans? Do you want to talk about that a little bit?

Dr. Brian Williams: 20:37

Yes, there was recently a bill about reinstating the assault weapons ban and that did not go anywhere due to Republican opposition. But we're not without hope, Osha. Last year we passed the Bipartisan Save Our Communities Act, which was the most significant gun safety bill in a generation, and at the time I was actually serving as a health policy advisor in Congress to Senator Chris Murphy, who was the lead sponsor of that bill. But what it shows is that we can do big things to reduce death due to gun violence in a bipartisan way that will benefit all Americans. So we decided to build upon that work. So sometimes they seem hopeless, but we are not without hope, we are not without power, and as long as we continue to do the work, we can make this country safer for the next generation so that we're all not fearful of being injured or killed due to gun violence.

Osha Hayden: 21:33

And it's kind of hard to understand what the motivation would be of someone who wants to block legislation that would prevent these deaths from gun violence. Well, other than big money, I suppose.

Dr. Brian Williams: 21:50

As someone who has had to pronounce too many children dead on arrival, have had to deliver news to too many parents about the deaths of someone they care about, as someone who, myself, has lost family members to gun violence, and as a veteran who's trained on these weapons, it's unfathomable that our elected leaders do not do more to keep us safe from gun violence. Especially when a majority of Americans agree that there are things that we can do to reduce firearm related injuries and can and should do, I should say, to reduce death and injury due to firearms. It's just a small group of elected leaders that continue to block that. So we, with our power as citizens, just send the right leaders to Congress who will step up to do what's right on behalf of our children to keep them safe. And that's central to why I'm running to go there to do what I can to join a growing majority that wants to do something to promote gun safety in this country and bring my perspective to the table.

Osha Hayden: 22:46

I just want to mention that Kehinde Wiley art exhibit came here to San Francisco, which is near where I live, and I was able to go and see it. I was very fortunate to be able to go and see that exhibit and I don't know if everyone listening is aware of Kehinde Wiley, but he is a black painter and sculptor of an excellence that is truly remarkable. I walked out of the exhibit and I said "move over Michelangelo and I am a Michelangelo fan. But it was so powerful and there were all these beautiful young black bodies in the prime of their lives reclining and you didn't know if they were sleeping or if they were dead, but it was very, very powerful. So if anyone has a chance to see that, I'm just going to throw in a little plug for it here because I think it is very impactful. So why are academic medical centers generally located in predominantly African American and poor urban areas?

Dr. Brian Williams: 23:51

Yeah, this is something that even with my entire career in academia that was shocking to me, even though intuitively I knew this.

Dr. Brian Williams: 24:00

But to really address the reality of why academic medical centers were placed near impoverished, largely black communities.

Dr. Brian Williams: 24:08

By intent for a couple of reasons, Academic medical centers train the next generation of students and doctors, so you have a community that can't afford health care, but they get to go to these centers where young doctors and young doctors in training get to learn their craft. They also are frequently used in clinical trials and medical experiments, and they don't even consent to it. So academia has benefited greatly by this co-location, which continues to this day, and I feel like we should be teaching this to our medical students, we should be teaching this to our nursing students and anybody that works in health care should understand this, just so that we recognize and be more committed to the shared humanity of people that are suffering and may have nowhere else to go. There's been great strides and advances made in medicine as a result. As I've learned and taught, I feel I would have been better if I could have known and taught this to the next generation as well. So let's not ignore the history of how black people have been exploited by academic medical centers over the centuries.

Osha Hayden: 25:13

So let's also talk about how your neighborhood can influence your odds of seeing your grandchildren grow up.

Dr. Brian Williams: 25:20

Now this is another talk about structural racism. We know that they talk about zip codes being more important than your genetic code. They can identify certain zip codes that have the highest endemic gun violence, highest rates of late stage cancers. There are zip codes that are defined as cradle to prison, meaning that if you're born in that zip code especially for young black men in certain areas then you will end up in the criminal justice system at some point. So that's a health care part in the criminal justice part, but also in these same zip codes. Housing, poorly funded education, all these things impact our health.

Dr. Brian Williams: 25:57

It's not just seeing a doctor, but the social determinants, the non-hospital things that impact our health are tied to zip codes and they can actually go down to streets right, not just the zip code, but down the actual street level, the granular data. So that is where we need the power of government, along with private industry, community activists, community members who live there, to come together to institute dramatic change, to uplift these communities, especially involving those that live there, because those that are closest to the problem often have the best solutions. It's just that we need to ask how we can help and allow them to take the lead to transform communities.

Osha Hayden: 26:44

And how much better would our world be if we had the benefit of these people contributing to society in the ways that they are able to, instead of being kept down by circumstances beyond their control? What kind of world would we have if people were able to contribute their gifts?

Dr. Brian Williams: 27:07

A healthy individual is a healthy community, a healthy community is a healthy society. And just the humanistic argument should be enough. Right, we should care enough about our neighbors to recognize our shared humanity and wish the best for everyone, even complete strangers. But I think it's not too much of a leap to understand that when you have more healthy people, that that is a good thing for the economy. Right, people can work. They're more productive. The economy will be more robust. That will lead to less crime, better education. We have to understand how all of these are interconnected and how health and health care is central to all that, so we can commit and decide what is the minimum level of health we want to expect from an individual, what is the minimum level of health care we should provide. The payoff for that is much greater over time than what we will invest. And that's what I just want people to understand is that we all have a role in creating a world where each of us can thrive and achieve our maximal potential.

Osha Hayden: 28:13

Yes, on that beautiful, positive note, we're going to go to a short break and we'll be back in just a moment with more with Dr Brian H Williams. Stay with us. In case you're just joining us. This is Aspire, with Osha: art, nature, humanity, and I'm your host, Osha Hayden, and I am here with Dr Brian H Williams, author of the Bodies Keep Coming and candidate for the US Congress. I think this is an interesting thing that we need to talk about here, the role of guns in America. We're talking about gun violence, but the actual role of guns in America, where white men are considered patriots, police are protectors and black men are criminals. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Dr. Brian Williams: 29:13

Absolutely, osha. I wanted to highlight how we're going to talk about guns. We have to talk about race, we're talking about gun violence. We have to talk about racism and how these are all intertwined. We cannot separate them.

Dr. Brian Williams: 29:25

So when you think about gun ownership, which you just mentioned, I think people think of you know, white men are presented as patriots, police as protectors, black men as criminals, and what does that mean for how we view gun ownership? But it's not only that. Let's talk about gun violence victims, like how do you decide who is a victim, whom we should mourn and whom we should ignore? And it's just not how we feel about it, but it's statistics as well. For example, the Stand Your Ground laws which allow people to use deadly force with a weapon if they feel their lives are threatened.

Dr. Brian Williams: 30:06

But looking at the data from Standing Ground Laws, there are definitely racial disparities. So if the victim is black and the shooter is white, that is more often deemed a justifiable killing. When it's reversed, that is not the case. A Black shooting a white person is less frequently considered justifiable, even if they claim the same defense. Stand your ground and I talked about this even more, that for standing ground laws if you're a white woman that shoots your domestic abuser in self-defense, you are more likely to be convicted than a white man who shoots an unarmed person in public. So that just kind of shows the racial disparities within these statistics. But the whole point is I want to shine a light on, if we're going to move forward, we need to really talk about race in a way that looks at the reality of how that impacts our day-to-day lives, and violence is one of those issues where race cannot be separated. We need to talk about how that influences ownership, deaths and how we as a society view who are the worthy victims and owners of firearms.

Osha Hayden: 31:19

Because you can have a black man who legally owns a gun but is treated very, very differently than a white man who owns a gun.

Dr. Brian Williams: 31:29

Absolutely. I mean, when I was younger, my mother would not allow me to play with toy guns. You cannot play with toy guns. She knew that back in the 70s. She knew that that could get me killed. And I think we've seen this now. Tamir Rice had a toy gun and he was shot and killed. And there's people that are unarmed, that are unarmed black men who were shot and killed. So this is not a new phenomenon. This has been going on for a long time and black families and black communities know the reality of this. It's now becoming more broadly understood and known and with that knowledge we can make change. With that knowledge we can make change so that we all feel safe.

Osha Hayden: 32:08

So let's talk about some of the things because you've been studying health policy and structural racism and all of these things and advising people in Congress for quite some time now, so you are an expert on all of this. So what are some of the things that you would like to do when you get into Congress and I'm just going to assume here that you are getting into Congress, because we're going for positivity here and we do need to come together to create a better world.

Dr. Brian Williams: 32:38

I like that endorsement and the energy there, Osha, I appreciate it. For me, when you say expert, there is the lived experience combined with the academic experience of the issues that we talked about, and, as a member of Congress, I want to take all of that to the table in an effort to serve. As a veteran, I internalize this ethos of service before self and that's what I want to do is put service before self as a member of Congress and by bringing my experience and expertise and these issues we talked about how we can make the country better. Now, certainly not something that one person can do alone, but without that diversity of voices and experience at the table, nothing will change. And I say I'll be the first trauma surgeon in Congress, joining others who are working to reduce gun violence deaths in this country. I'd be the first black doctor to vote in Congress.

Dr. Brian Williams: 33:31

We've talked about health care disparities. There's only 19 doctors in Congress, but I'll also be a black doctor who can talk about this issue through the lens of what do we do to ensure the better health outcomes for our racial and ethnic minorities that are frequently an afterthought when we think about policies related to their health. That's the sort of experience and ethic I want to take to Congress to fight for everyone, because everyone benefits. We can all benefit from that and I feel very good about the campaign right now and you can learn more about the campaign at Dr Brian Williams for Congress. com.

Osha Hayden: 34:07

So and you can also go to Dr Brian Williams, md. com, correct?

Dr. Brian Williams: 34:16

Brian Williams MD. com. That was my first website for the book and So for the book - Brian Williams MDcom. For Congress, Dr Brian Williams for Congress. com.

Osha Hayden: 34:32

And again the book is called the Bodies Keep Coming: Dispatches from a Black Trauma Surgeon on Racism, Violence and, (most importantly), how we Heal. I think that is very important. But let's talk a moment about how you've been on a long journey with your wife and your daughter, and that is a continuing journey, but what has all of this been like on them? I mean, what is the effect on them?

Dr. Brian Williams: 35:00

My wife is clearly a central character in the story and without her presence there is no story, right. She is the voice of reason on the pages in the book. She's also the one there that is nudging me in certain directions at key moments of transformation during the journey, and she's been my best supporter, advisor, critic as well. I'm fortunate to have her in my life and, as a result, we've grown closer, we have much deeper discussions about a lot of issues and I look forward to continuing this journey with her. My daughter, you know I see the world through her eyes. You know she's a different set of eyes to see through the world with, and I'm more committed to doing what I can to ensure that she has a better place to inherit and grow up within and thrive. So none of this we've talked about, all of this, is meaningless without them. Without them along on the journey with me, this won't have quite the same sort of impact. So I feel very fortunate that we get to go on this journey together.

Osha Hayden: 36:00

And so would you like to talk about what you would like to do on day one when you get elected to the US Congress?

Dr. Brian Williams: 36:08

Day one as a brand new member of Congress, I feel my most important thing is to be a team player and do what I can to contribute to the mission, to serve the country. So certainly getting touch with the leadership of the caucus and saying like, how can I help? This is something I learned as an Air Force veteran is that the best leaders know how to follow, right. You know how to follow and, as a brand new member of Congress, despite my credentials, my record of service, I will still be a new member of Congress, which requires more learning, developing more relationships and doing what I can to contribute to preserving our democracy and ensuring that all Americans can thrive.

Osha Hayden: 36:49

I think that America is really at a flex point right now, where we would like to have more leaders who actually are committed to serving the people, to serving us in Congress, rather than some wild and crazy agenda that comes from somewhere else. So, anyway, it has been an absolute pleasure to have you on the show today, Dr. Williams, and again I want to talk about this book. The bodies keep coming by Brian H Williams MD and you can go to his website and check it out, and your website for your congressional campaign is. Will you say it again?

Dr. Brian Williams: 37:29

Dr Brian Williams for Congress. com. Dr Brian with an ".

Osha Hayden: 37:35

Thank you so much for joining us today, and I think this is a very important subject that we've been talking about, and it's very hopeful to see someone like yourself who has the experience that you have, who has a vision for the future and knows how to get that implemented. So good luck to you on your campaign.

Dr. Brian Williams: 37:57

Thank you very much. Oh, it's been a great conversation. I like to offer one of your listeners a signed copy of the book. I will allow you to decide how to determine who that will be. We can work that out after the show sometime. But I'll definitely send a signed copy of the book to one of your loyal listeners.

Osha Hayden: 38:12

Oh, thank you so very much. Someone is going to be very, very happy. Well, so to my listeners, thank you so much for listening and have an inspired week and live your joy. See you next time.