Politics & Primaries
Marion Wright Edelman taught that democracy is not a spectator sport. Early voting has started and one of the most significant ways to create the change you want to see, is to elect into office the candidates who hold your values. On April 21, the Stan Greenspon Center hosted a Candidates of Color Forum to learn about the first-hand lived experiences that our candidates have had in being a person of color in the electoral space. To listen to their voices, the stories and their vision for leading visit the You Tube recording. It is a long recording so here’s a guide for the timing of each candidate’s presentation:
Candidates for Sheriff – Sheriff Garry McFadden, Aijiena (Gina) Hicks, Marquis Robinson – 43:50-55:45
City Council At-Large – Patrick Cannon, LaWana Mayfield, James “Smuggie” Mitchell – 56:40 – 1:13:35
Mayor – Tigress Sydney Acute McDaniel, Lucille Puckett – 1:15:15 – 1:29
City Council Districts 1 and 2 – Dante Anderson (District 1), Charlene Henderson (District 1), Kendrick Cunningham Jr. (District 2) – 1:30:10 – 1:45:15
City Council Districts 3, 4, and 6 – Tiawana Brown (District 3), Victoria Watlington (District 3), Cedric Dean (District 4), Rob Hillman (District 6), Reverend Stephanie Hand (District 6) – 1:46:45 – 2:15:40
A Mixed Group – District Attorney Spencer Merriweather, Arthur Griffin, Jr. (County Commission At-Large), Will Strom, Jr. (Mayor) (2:17:15 – 2:34:15)
Religion, Art, and Justice
Join the Elder Gallery for a panel discussion exploring the intersectionality of religion, art, and justice during Mixed Blessings, a solo exhibition showcasing work by MyLoan Dinh. The program entitled “Illusions of Us: Exploring the Intersectionality of Religion, Art, and Justice” on Thursday, May 5, from 6 to 8 PM at the Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art at 1520 South Tryon Street here in Charlotte.
There will be a panel discussion moderated by Dr. de’Angelo Dia. Panelists will include MyLoan Dinh, Rabbi Judy Schindler, Hector Vaca, Helms Jarrell and Stacy Monday. Poetry readings will be shared by Olivia Chauntelle, Alex Osborne and Dr. de’Angelo Dia.
Mixed Blessings draws from the shuffling, cross-cultural entanglements that comprise MyLoan Dinh’s experiences with faith and identity. Born in Vietnam, Dinh escaped her war-torn country as a child with her family, moving between refugee camps, resettling as a sponsored family by a Lutheran Church in the Appalachian Mountains, and ultimately finding her home in Charlotte, North Carolina. The formation of Dinh’s spiritual identity is conspicuously composite—she was raised in a traditional Southeast Asian Buddhist household and educated in public schools in the predominantly Christian South. These geographic, social, cultural, and religious influences have significantly shaped her life perspective and creative pursuits. In this new body of work, Dinh offers a contemplative navigation through the complex, interwoven layers of her spiritual and cultural identity, in view of historical and contemporary narratives, and shares not only the intricate histories woven in her personal story, but also the labyrinthine structures of human identity more broadly. Her work constructs spaces within which the ever-changing, always unfinished meanings of identity can be explored, subverted, and reimagined.
To RSVP to the event at the Elder Gallery, click here.