Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration planned for next weekend at TFAC

TRYON– The Thermal Belt Friendship Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering a welcoming community, according to its president, Donna Tatnall.

A Cleveland native, Tatnall joined the Friendship Council because the organization shares the same values she has in regards to giving a voice to all groups of people in the county. Tatnall subscribed to the Tryon Daily Bulletin a year before she moved to Tryon from Cleveland and said the council was the first group she wanted to join.

“The council’s goal is to bring the community together to bridge racial divides and promote inclusivity in any way we can,” Tatnall explained. “We do this in a variety of ways from diversity workshops to going out to lunch one Saturday a month to a community picnic in June at Harmon Field. We also try to get involved in other organizations and events like the Latino Festival in Hendersonville.”

Part of the council’s mission includes celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with an event open to the community, something they have done for the past 27 years. (See sidebar)

Because the organization wants to be as inclusive as possible, Tatnall said there are no dues or requirements for members to join. She added anyone is welcome to attend the lunches each month. The council has about 40 active members now.

“All parts are counted and we try to bear witness to what is going on in our community,” Tatnall said. “I wanted to be involved in the Friendship Council because I wanted to know a diverse group of people. They have become my friends and the council enriches my life.”

While in Cleveland, Tatnall received her master’s degree in social work from Case Western Reserve University. She said her training in social work made her more aware of her own bias and the bias of her colleagues.

“Being a social worker, I learned about my bias and how to let go of them,” Tatnall said.

She went on to recount an experience she had where she was walking down the stairs to meet a client who had on jeans, no shirt, a black leather vest and earrings. She said she did not know what to expect with this person, but he turned out to be one of the “sweetest” and “dearest” young men she met.

“Never judge a book by its cover,” Tatnall said. “We have all sorts of bias based on a person’s appearance, color or accent. I used to do a kids diversity program and these kids would tell me they have no bias. That is until I asked them to talk about what clothes the other kids in the program were wearing.”

Tatnall recalled an event where the Friendship Council went to see the movie “42” about baseball player Jackie Robinson. She said there was an older gentleman who played in the Negro leagues and said listening to his experiences was special.

“My first reaction to the climate of our world today is to say it is painful,” Tatnall said. “I think there is a lot of pain all around and there is a lot of mistrust and fear with people feeling they are not being cared about and are misunderstood. Some of this can be healed through open communication and a willingness to listen.”

She said she is reading “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander and said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to bring people together to form a new coalition during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

“There are people out there who feel disenfranchised and it is not just the African Americans but the middle class also,” Tatnall said. “I am a believer in Mother Teresa to do small things with great love. I believe if Dr. King were still alive today, he would be less surprised than we are because oppression is still going on.”

Tatnall also said she is a believer in the South African principle of Ubuntu, in which all people are connected through a universal bond.

“I don’t think we can accurately gauge the distance of how far people have come and still how far we have to go,” Tatnall explained. “I am very much a believer in Ubuntu, where I am me because you are you and we need everyone in to do anything. What touches one, touches all.”

ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING JR PROGRAM

The Thermal Belt Friendship Council will be celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 6 p.m. at the Tryon Fine Arts Center with guest speaker Elisa A. Chinn-Gary, Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court and Judge of Probate.

Chinn-Gary earned her master’s degree in social work and juris doctorate from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and became a member of the North Carolina state bar in 1999.

Chinn-Gary served for 13 years as the Juvenile and Family Court administrator in Mecklenburg. She also serves as the co-chair of Race Matters for Juvenile Justice, a “collaboration of judicial officials, law enforcement, schools and social service providers who have set an agenda to reduce the disproportionate representation of African American children and families in the juvenile justice system.”