MarshaRose Joyner

I see my role in life as a grain of sand. A grain of sand you ask? “You know, to make a truly beautiful pearl there must be a grain of sand in the oyster. To make a truly beautiful world, there must be people like me, the irritants that keep everything growing.

Coming into the world at the end of the 10930’s worldwide depression coupled with the era of Jim Crow and coming of age in the Civil Rights Movement, there is just not enough space to list all of the experiences and adventure I have had.

The Murphy-Oliver Family, of which I am the oldest of the seventh generation, has owned Afro-American Newspapers, since its founding in 1892; The Afro-American Newspapers gave voice to the Civil Rights Movement. There has never been a time in my life when I have not been a part of a "cause". "The newspaper was always championing the cause of “Civil Rights", which afforded me the opportunity to know most of the great Black, leaders and martyrs of our time.

For more than 50 years of living in Hawai`i and being a part of the Pacific-Asia Indigenous Community, I have come to know, admire & respect some of the great Human Rights and Social Justice Leaders, not only in Hawai`i, but around the world. Having meet most of the Heads of State from around the Pacific & the United Nations. "Being involved in the Indigenous community gives me a perspective into the world that "western culture" does not provide; it has also fostered a greater appreciation for my own culture and its roots.
Currently:
Director, Chamber of Commerce for Persons with Disabilities
President Emeritus, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Coalition
President/Executive Producer of the Hawaiian National Communication Corporation
Medical Education Coordinator – Hepatitis Wellness Hawai’i
Team Leader “KAP(SS) 4 KID(SS) USSVI (United States Submarine Veterans) Bowfin Base. Pearl Harbor Hawai’i

Former:
Director the Hawaii Peace Center
Co-producer of the Annual Nagasaki Bombing remembrance for the past 20 years
An Honoree inscribed on the “The Wall of Tolerance”, Civil Rights Memorial Museum, Montgomery Al.
Publisher of Ke Aloha Aina newspaper,
Editor of the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday Book for the past 15 years
As a WGBH-TV Fellow, I wrote, directed and produced "The Queen and Dr. King", "The Black American Odyssey" & "The Freedom Movement."
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) "Multicultural Producer"