CONTENT Scary Times
The Forum featuring Mark Peres 5 Questions with Melanie Dunston A Word |
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It’s the end of October, and while the kids are seeking frights, most adults are carrying all too real anxieties. Terror and questions abound on fronts around the globe. Since the carnage began October 7th, fears are intensifying for our Jewish and Palestinian brothers and sisters everywhere. Ukraine may have been bumped from top headlines, but we still grieve the ongoing death and destruction.
Here at home, the Maine shooting massacre is a brutal reminder of our own uniquely American crisis. We have now reached a count of over 560 mass shootings in the U.S., which is more than the number of days in 2023. Further, with a new year on the horizon, threats to American democracy loom. Fear of “the other” and unknown serves as fodder for disinformation, manipulation, and clashes. During a TV broadcast, I heard a 10-year-old shooting victim in Lewiston, Maine ask: Why do people do this?
Here is a question we have all asked. A bit of insight came during last week’s Queens University lecture by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson. Wilkerson, author of Caste: The Origins of our Discontents, contends fear-based hostilities—whether antisemitism, racism, xenophobia or misogyny—fall under caste systems, which focus on the infrastructure of our divisions and the rankings that determine one’s place. Wilkerson describes caste as “an artificial hierarchy that helps decide standing and respect, assumptions of beauty and competence, and even who gets benefit of the doubt and access to resources.” Discord, and often violence, occurs when people perceive the hierarchy is threatened or the oppression unbearable.
The base impulse of humans to sort, divide, and dominate is strong and can be cruel. Wisdom, however, reveals that being humane—our countervailing, lifelong striving for understanding, compassion, and mutual wellbeing—holds hope for our safety and healing.
Valaida Fullwood The Charlotte Center |
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"We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.”
― Albert Einstein
German-born physicist and Nobel laureate |
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You're Invited to Our Next Forum! |
The headlines tell the story. Forces of dehumanization are all around us. How do we restore human dignity and create good communities? How do we elevate mutual aid and creative expression? How do we reassert our humanity? Join us as Mark Peres, The Charlotte Center Founder & Executive Director, takes the mic for a discussion on re-humanizing our world. WHEN | Dec. 5 at 6:15 PM | Wray Ward at 2317 Thrift Rd, Charlotte, NC 28208 |
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5 Questions • Melanie Dunston |
BY VALAIDA FULLWOOD
An Interview with Charlotte Resident, Involved Citizen, and Disability Advocate |
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Melanie Dunston is a driven community leader who uses a manual wheelchair as her means of mobility. She is passionate about disability advocacy, equity and civic leadership and has dedicated her life to assisting and serving the public, particularly the underserved. Melanie works as a Private Warrant/Criminal Court Mediator with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee (CRC). Her current and past service to the community includes being a board member of Disability Rights and Resources, an evaluator for the ABC Board, a member of Central Piedmont Community College’s Student Equity Council, a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Board Member for the Red Cross, and involvement with numerous other organizations.
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You're originally a New Yorker, so what attracted you to Charlotte?
Getting sick and having to find a good place to retire early is what brought me to Charlotte. I knew nothing and nobody here. I was seeking a good climate, the opportunity to do something with people, in the arts and in community.
Before I moved to Charlotte, people familiar with the city had told me negative things. “It's in the Bible Belt.” “There's some racial tension.” These were some of the things I heard, but they didn’t sway me. I've been here 12 years now, and I've had entirely different experiences than what was cautioned.
You're active on multiple fronts in the community. What advice do you have for people looking to get involved or connected here?
Oh, please get involved and get connected! It's important. Charlotte’s a hub of many people, though sometimes it can feel socially clique-y. I'm interested in everything. Anything and everything that's beautiful and happening, I want to be there. For instance, the Festival of India, I'm not Indian, but I go because it's beautiful, it's festive and it's community. I’d tell anyone, just get involved. Hopefully you have a purpose and a passion for something; if you come to Charlotte, you will definitely have something to do.
What was your path to disability advocacy?
I was in administrative nursing in New York. I thought I was doing well and was making a lot of money, and then boom I got sick. When I became sick, it was important for me to still have a voice. I didn't know what the future was going to look like, because I had never been sick like that before. When I stopped walking, it really hit me that I've got to do something.
In dealing with my health, I accumulated a lot of information, knowledge, and resources. I decided to use Facebook as a social platform to help other people by sharing what I had learned and had access to. I built my own hub through social media and asked people just to show up. And they showed up. Six years later, I’ve been able to connect with thousands of people. What's your happy place and why?
I'm a poet and poetry is my happy place. I love poetry. Last year, I was chosen as one of many for a poetry book. A big day for me! Food also makes me happy. I love to cook, especially creating exotic dishes. Preparing and eating food is intimate and I have a passion for it. Conversation with people while eating together is the best. Given your experiences and work, what's one thing a person can do to be more thoughtful and inclusive?
I believe it’s sitting down at the table with people who are different from yourself and having difficult conversations. Just really get to, “I don't know, but can you help me with this?” People ask, “If I push your wheelchair without asking your permission, does that bother you?” Yes, it bothers me. I love having conversations. They're not always difficult, and if they are difficult, we can get through that. Let's just start it. Start the conversation.
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Learn more about Melanie and her work!
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ABOUT THE CHARLOTTE CENTER |
We are interested in what is good for Charlotte and what Charlotte can offer the world. At the core of The Charlotte Center is a deep regard for the humanities: those disciplines that offer a boundless treasure trove and method of understanding the human experience. The humanities invite us to our better selves. They offer a critical and constructive spirit that questions and calls us to what is good and true.
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| | Evil has only the power
that we give it. |
Ray Bradbury American author and screenwriter |
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| The Charlotte Center is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization.
Word to the Wise is compiled and edited monthly by Valaida Fullwood
Design by Goldenrod Design Co. & Maddy Stevens |
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