Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Speaks on Activism, Advancement to Students

By Emily Dewitt
Hottytoddy.com intern
esdewitt@go.olemiss.edu

LGBTQ+ activist Mandy Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, spoke to the campus community about the idea that anyone can be an activist – that it’s all in the approach. For students on the University of Mississippi’s campus, activism is ripe for the taking, she said.

The speech, entitled “Advancing Each Other: Building Coalitions Across Communities”, was about how students could fight for what they believe in, despite being in an atmosphere that she says doesn’t facilitate change quickly.

UM students Hooper Schultz, Sarah Heying, Kendrick Wallace and JoAnndria Brown joined Carter on her panel. Photo by Emily Dewitt.

Carter embarked on her path as an activist co-founding Southerners On New Ground or SONG, which is an organization dedicated to bringing together LGBTQ+ people in the South and assisting those in need. She found herself standing up for what she believed was right – human rights.

She the found herself in Durham, North Carolina (where she co-founded SONG). There, she became nostalgic for her roots. Growing up as a foster child, Carter did not know her parents. She felt a desire to find her birth mother once she reached North Carolina, and to her surprise, her roots were planted all throughout the state. Carter held back tears as she expressed how touching it was finding her birth mother.

Finding her roots in the South connected Carter to North Carolina in a new way. Her involvement with SONG is a result of this connection and her desire to make an impact, she said.

“I want to be in with other folk,” Carter said about her work as an activist. “Together, make it a collective ‘we.’”

It was apparent she believed that being a “we” was the most important step to having an open dialogue about any controversial topics. With SONG, Carter hopes to better issues on race as well as stereotypes surrounding the LGBTQ+ community in the South by building transformative models, organizing in the South, and connecting race, class, culture, gender, sexual identity and gender orientation. Being united as a “collective we,” Carter believes, can bring about real change.

One attendee asked how Carter defines being an activist.

“What separates activists from others? What is the mentality needed to make a change especially starting with college campuses?” she asked.

“Silence is the voice of complicity,” Carter answered.

Carter explained that something as simple as shutting down a racist or sexist comment can make all the difference. It is something as small as asking a mental question: what can one do in his or her daily life that can make a difference? She expressed that activism is more about getting something done today – it’s the power of one and then multiplying it.

In an example, she went on to ask her panelists JoAnndria Brown, Kendrick Wallace, Hooper Schultz and Sarah Heying how they rated their optimism when they wake each day. Brown answered her optimism as a four, and many in the audience related.

After hearing this, Carter felt it was important to let students know that in order to achieve their goals, it is important to realize where they hope to be one day. “Ten years from now, how old will you be and where do you see yourself?” she asked.

She wrapped up her speech with words of encouragement for anyone feeling lost in how to make a change, especially here at Ole Miss, when it seems everything is moving at a slow rate.

“Dealing with disagreements is always going to be present,” Carter said, “There is always going to be opposition.”

Carter then left the audience to think on a message that is ultimately at the root of having a conversation of change.

“Are we about justice or are we about just us?” Carter asked.