OUR THOUGHTS ON SOCIETY & NEXT STEPS
-Carey Dunn, Executive Director
In the spring of 2019, I was interviewed for a research paper on leadership challenges in the non-profit sector. My interviewer, Danny—a black man—and I—a white woman—focused on the research paper questions for the first half of our conversation but concluded with deeper dialogue. We talked openly and honestly about the struggle I felt attempting to pursue racial justice for high schoolers and our community at large when I am fully aware that I will never know personally what it feels like to walk in the shoes of a person of color. He saw the sincerity of my humility and passion for change and gave me insights to shape how I would move forward.
As an organization, we are on a mission to dismantle the opportunity gaps that black and brown middle and high schoolers experience. In my dialogue with Danny, he shared with me the personal ways his father explained what is known as the ‘opportunity gap’. Danny’s father laid it out to him this way: he said, “Here is the starting line for this race called life, you are going to start back here, well behind that starting line, not because of anything you have done to deserve starting back here. So, you are going to have to work harder to get to success. Don’t complain about it, just accept it and work harder. Run the race better.”
We live in a country where a history of oppression and discrimination has created and perpetuates advantages and disadvantages for people based on skin color. There is no such thing as being color-blind to race, and white privilege is very real. Accepting those statements as facts will feel uncomfortable for white people. What is done with this discomfort will define whether you become a part of the movement for change or passive participants in continuing the negative effects of over 400 years of oppression. American slavery lasted for 339 years, after that, segregation lasted 89 years, and during the last 66 years since desegregation, active and passive racism continue. We are living in yet another critical moment in history. The Covid-19 pandemic is more likely to take the life of a black or brown person than a white person’s; running through a neighborhood with black or brown skin makes one suspicious of a crime; and racial profiling—whether conscious or subconscious—in law enforcement deems some lives more valuable and more deserving of redemption than others. These events leave us as a society weeping, angry, and afraid. I do not want to attempt to be another voice in the mix, but to claim my responsibility as a leader for racial justice and to call us all to action towards reconciliation and real change.
Austin Channing Brown says in her book ‘I’m still here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness’: “Racial Reconciliation is the pursuit of the impossible- an upside-down world where those who are powerful have relinquished that power to the margins.” In my dialogue with Danny, we talked about upward mobility and the limited options students feel – either from lack of exposure or lack of confidence. We talked about the ways white kids mess up, sometimes ending in arrests during their teen years, but oftentimes getting off scot-free through the help of lawyers and family friends – a luxury their black and brown peers cannot fathom. We talked about my dreams for Malek, Keyamonie, Curtis, Zaire, Josh, and Taniya, my first 6 students. Our dialogue was rich and full because of the insights Danny offered me. He helped me feel inspired to transform lives instead of feeling helpless in the fight for something that is seen as impossible.
Doors to Dream is on a mission to empower students to not only see more options, but also to see their potential to effectuate change in their own lives and in the world around them. We want to see students rise out of poverty and become leaders in Charleston and beyond. Our programming creates new opportunities for students in school, after-school, and in the community. We focus on teaching leadership skills and the importance of helping and serving others, emboldening our students to not just passively observe the problems around them, but instead be impassioned to take action. We want our students to see open doors and the paths to their success and upward mobility to be innumerable. Our goal is to see everyone cross that finish line having successfully pursued their own personal dreams. What would our world look like if this really happened?
How can you become a part of this journey with us at Doors to Dream? Our high schoolers lack a network for upward mobility. We believe that you can be a part of creating opportunities for our students that they might not otherwise ever have had access to. They are passionate about service and giving back to the community around them. Invite us to participate with you in social impact projects or community service days. This is an incredible opportunity to invite our students into relationship with you, to see their impressive skills and to support their interests.
Job shadowing and paid summer or year-round internships designed for our students will turn things upside down. Danny's advice included these wise words- ‘you need these students to see men and women of all ethnic backgrounds in regular jobs.’ Partnerships with accountants, electricians, doctors, nurses, business executives, lawyers, property managers, non-profit leaders, and countless other professions are invaluable to our students as they replace closed doors for their futures with realistic options. We would work with you to customize jobs that are carefully thought out and designed to teach skills for the job and beyond. We will help employers look for ways to advocate for our students and understand the starting line advantages or disadvantages. Your commitment to sponsor our students is a commitment to the vision for their lives, and to our collective future both here in Charleston and beyond.
You can also support our students through monetary donations to our organization or through becoming an ambassador for our mission to other organizations with which you interface. We want people to join us who will think about our students and Doors to Dream’s mission, wherever they are, but especially at a table where are students are not represented and often forgotten.
As Channing writes, “Dialogue is productive toward reconciliation only when it leads to action—when it inverts power and pursues justice for those who are most marginalized.” To hear more about what we are doing in school and after-school, check out our website, or send me an email at careydunn@doorstodream.org and we can talk one-on-one about opportunities to get involved.
What if in our pursuit of deep connectedness and world change, we didn’t just put lip service to the mission of unlocking and unleashing the giftedness and excellence our students could offer the world? What if we instead truly transformed lives? Both theirs and our own.
As the conversations about race, injustice, and inequities occur more and more often, I am here to continue the conversation, to deepen the dialogue, and to offer an opportunity for you to make a difference for a high schooler right here in Charleston.