President
Ryan Rule
Executive Director
Ray Goforth
Executive Board
Bob Wilkerson Treasurer
Jimmie Mathis Secretary
Joel Funfar N W Regional VP
Brent Mc Farlane N W Regional VP
Shannon Deacon N W Regional VP
Keith Covert M W Regional VP
SPEEA Council Officers
Theryl Johnson Chair
Nikki Wagener Treasurer
Sandra Hastings Secretary
Midwest Regional Council Officers
Mark Gayer Chair
Matthew Joyce Treasurer
Emily Forest Secretary
Northwest Regional Council Officers
Tony Hickerson Chair
Orlando De Los Santos Treasurer
James Raskob Secretary
SPEEA Publications
Bill Dugovich Communications Director
Lori Dupuis Graphic Designer/Web Developer
Karen McLean Publications Editor
Amber Musselman Communications Support
speea_info@speea.org • www.speea.org
published monthly by:
Society of Professional Engineering Employees
in Aerospace, IFPTE Local 2001, AFL-CIO, CLC
15205 52nd Ave S • Seattle, WA 98188 • (206) 433-0991
Reproduction rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced without permission. When permission is granted, material must be used in context and credit given to the SPEEA SPOTLI TE.
Original articles and feedback are solicited.
Subscription rate: $2.00 per year.
$2.00 of the annual membership dues is paid as a
year’s subscription to the SPEEA SPOTLITE.
POS TMASTER: Address changes to: The SPEEA SPOTLI TE,
15205 52nd Ave S, Seattle WA 98188.
Periodicals Postage Paid at Seattle, Washington
Volume 60, Number 1, January 2016
ISSN 0194-8687
SEAT TLE HALL
15205 52nd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98188
M-Th, 8 am to 5 pm • Fri, 8 am to 4:30 pm
Phone: (206) 433-0991 • 1 (800) 325-0811
EVERETT HALL
2414 106th Street SW, Everett, WA 98204
M-Fri, 8 am to 4:30 pm
Phone: (425) 355-2883
WICHITA HALL
973 S Glendale St, Wichita, KS 67218
M-Th, 8:30 am to 5 pm • Fri, 8 am to 4:30 pm
Phone: (316) 682-0262
“He (my father) carefully folded that paper and
kept it the rest of his life,” she said. This is her
second most prized possession of that history. “I
feel responsible for the legacy of this – that we
just live what this movement expected.”
Bell-Brazeal is a lot like her parents, who emphasized education as the key to advancement. “My
parents insisted on academics – how can you continue the dream if you don’t go on and live it?”
Her father pursued his master’s after serving in
the Air Force. Her mother Virginia (Boykin)
Bell graduated top of her class at the Grady
Colored Nursing School (and because of her
grades, she was at the top of the Grady (White)
Nursing School too).
Moving the family to the Northwest, William
Bell became director of Family Counseling
Service for Greater King County. Her mother
became one of the first nurse practitioners
(ARNP) in the state of Washington.
Bell-Brazeal worked for 15 years at Boeing in
training and development, then took a voluntary
layoff to go back to school. On an accelerated
program, she earned a degree in health information management. She now works as a software
educator for electronic health records.
Her parents picked Bellevue to raise their two
daughters because of the schools. But despite
being in the ‘progressive’ north, they faced rac-
ism when they first arrived. “Doors slammed
in our face,” when her parents tried to buy a
house, Bell-Brazeal said. “We were one of the
‘original seven’ black families in the area in 1968.
But our particular neighborhood was diversely
integrated.”
How King pursued a life of non-violence she
can only imagine. “ML returned to the South to
preach a socially relevant, intellectually respon-
sible gospel.” As the social-political climate in the
south began to heat up, she said, other forerun-
ners in the movement such as “Rosa (Parks)
inspired ML to step up his game.”
Talking about the holiday in King’s name, both
Bell-Brazeal and her husband compare it to the
way people spend Labor Day – the meaning of
the holiday seems to have been lost. “So many
people just take it as a day off instead of revisit-
ing the concepts, ideas, or beliefs. If you’re not
taught, you won’t remember,” Bell-Brazeal said.
“Would he (ML) be ashamed of what we’re doing
in this country now?”
Bell-Brazeal’s third most prized heirloom is a let-
ter King wrote to her father, a thank you after
William Bell congratulated King for winning
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. In that personal
letter to Bell, King noted the need for a more
equitable distribution of wealth, economic and
spiritual liberty.
“In looking at the history of the labor movement
in our country, they (civil rights leaders at the time)
witnessed the train porters organize under the leadership of A. Philip Randolph. The Pullman porters
formed the first all-black union, the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters in 1925 and were instrumental
in the advancement of the civil rights movement,”
Bell-Brazeal said. “If organizing a union could
change something for a minority group in this country, then what about organizing ourselves into an
even greater civil rights movement?”
As Bell carefully put away her father’s memorabilia,
she reflected: “The dream is alive as long as we nurture, care for, and protect its ideals through history.
And that, I guess, is also part of my father’s legacy.”
Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.
continued from page 1
‘Introduction to Negotiations’ draws crowd
More than 60 turned out for a lunchtime meeting in the Developmental Center (Tukwila) last month. Council Rep
Frank Troth organized the meeting for an “Introduction to Negotiations,” presented by SPEEA Contract Administrator
Mike Hochberg. Other DC Council Reps who attended include Andrew Alenski, Jim Lee, Kathy Low and James
Raskob as well as many Area Reps who helped spread the word about the meeting. The Prof and Tech contracts expire in
October. The Bargaining Unit Councils elect their negotiation teams in February.
