After witnessing Whitney M.
Young Jr.’s groundbreaking Thundering Silence keynote address at the 1968 AIA
convention, Bob Berkebile, FAIA, then an intern architect, penned an article
that challenged his colleagues and community to form a more inclusive and
equitable profession. Throughout the ensuing 53 years, Berkebile has striven to
bolster the quality and resilience of all life as his work has grown in
intensity and scale.
In a notorious 1987 trial over the death of a Black man in New York City, he ruled that defense lawyers could not exclude potential jurors on the basis of race.
The following op-ed about Social Work Month was published in the Lexington Herald-Leader. Jay Miller is the dean of the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky.