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Out of Many, One.

Charity Blackwell

By D.C. United

February 26^th, 2021

Charity Blackwell is a spoken word artist, host, emcee, and poetry specialist who has spent several years contributing to the arts scene in DC and across national platforms.

Charity’s natural stage presence and charm have led her to various hosting opportunities, including the Poetry SLAMS Poetry OUT LOUD National competition, Busboys and Poets events, and many more.

D.C. United were honored to catch up with Charity to have an open dialogue about being a Washington, DC resident, what inspires her, the role of sports in activism and social justice and how sports and poetry help empower our youth.

D.C. United: To start, how long have you been a DC resident?

Charity: I’ve been in DC for about 11-12 years now, so I feel like a fake official Washingtonian. Just because I'm not born here, but I've been here for so long that I've seen the city shift and shape. Over what seems like a short amount of time, the city has changed so much, so I feel like I'm really embedded in the culture that DC has now become.

D.C. United: Why did you originally come to DC, and why did you end up staying?

Charity: I originally came to DC because my father at the time got a job as a contractor for the new African American History Museum. So this was planned out long, long ago. I came up here around the time I was looking at colleges anyway, and literally up the street is a college that I attended, Trinity University. I went there, got my BA and my Masters, and once I graduated, I had no desire to return back to South Carolina after experiencing how awesome DC is.

D.C. United: What's your favorite thing about the Chocolate City?

Charity: Oh man. This is a hard question to answer. There's so many amazing things about the city, but I would have to say two things. The food. The food here is amazing. I feel like you can find just about anything here, but also just the culture. The art culture here. I've met so many amazing artists and discovered myself as an artist here in DC, and I think that has a lot to do with what the city is; an accepting city, an open city, a loving city, and I was able to come as my full self once I moved here, and because of my artistic ability I really think I flourished being in this city. So I love the culture, I love the art, and I love my people.

D.C. United: Did you come into DC as a creative, as an artist? Or was that something that you started and really developed while you were here?

Charity: Yes, the second part. So it was something that I always had an interest for, but once I got to DC, I felt comfortable exploring more of, and was exposed to, different art forms that helped inspire me to even come out of my full shell as an artist. Like right here. We're in Busboys and Poets Brooklyn location. This is the first place that I ever hosted a poetry event, and I didn't even know what spoken word was until I got to DC, I was always a poet, but not a spoken word artist specifically. Huge shout out to DC.

D.C. United: What do you do with DC SCORES?

Charity: It's so weird how so many things are just connected in my life, and when I answer these questions it just really makes me think about how things happen. It doesn't make sense at the time, but then when you look back and just examine your life sometimes it just seems so well connected and it makes so much sense now. I actually was introduced to DC SCORES at my college, Trinity University. I was the front desk manager at the Athletic Center at the time, and this is when DC SCORES had their big Fall Frenzy. So they would take over the Trinity soccer field and they'd have arts, soccer, games, live DJ, food, music, it was just a whole celebration. And they always did it at Trinity at the time, up until recently, but that's where we have always had it and will probably continue to have Fall Frenzies.

I grew up playing soccer. I was on the soccer team at Trinity University and I was, at that time, creating poetry events at the school. So soccer being a huge part of my life, and poetry, I never would have seen those two things actually connecting and really forming my job and shaping the road that I would take going forward in my professional career. And, ever since then, I got involved. Once I heard about what the organization was, about their mission, the kids that they serve. They actually created a position for me; Creator of Directive Arts and Education, which was really dope. I've never had a position created for me. And that's how I ended up at DC SCORES. I always stayed involved with them, hosting their poetry slams, and so when the position opened up, yeah, it was history from there.

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D.C. United: We talked a lot about DC SCORES. So what role do sports play in activism and social justice?

Charity: Oh my goodness, where to start? Sports plays, I don't think there's just one role. I think there's so many different ways that sports have contributed to activism and social justice. Sports provide a platform, as you can see with athletes especially within the last year of 2020, really using their platform in sports to stand up for things that matter to them. Or kneeling for things that matter to them. And I think that is something that's powerful and something that's not new. You've seen it with Muhammad Ali. You’ve seen it with LeBron James. There's so many different athletes who have used their platform to stand up for things that need that extra megaphone, and it might take away from the game, some might say, but I think that it's America, it’s a part of who we are and how we force change and use our platforms as activism. Sports have just been a great way for athletes to do that. Especially the sport of soccer, being as popular as it is around the world. It’s becoming more popular in the US than it has in the past years, but across the world it’s probably one of the most popular sports. And when you have that much attention and crowd eyes on something, yes, it might not have anything to do with scoring a goal or winning the next championship, but it's something that is necessary and maybe a once in a lifetime chance for folks to get people’s ears to listen in and understand that your favorite players that you look up to, love, and care about are experiencing oppression. They’re experiencing things that they should not be experiencing, and you should listen. You should listen and you should care more about the person, outside of them just being an athlete. If you really love the sport and you really love the people, then you should understand that those people also need to be treated like people, like everyday human beings.

D.C. United: You spoke about your father coming for the new African American History Museum, since we are in the middle of Black History Month, can you maybe speak on the symbolism and what Black History Month means to you?

Charity: I really got a lot of my social justice stances and beliefs from my father. He was president of the NAACP in Rock Hill, South Carolina. I mean, being president of the NAACP is, like, a big job in general, but being president of the NAACP in the South... Ooph. Growing up and experiencing that really opened my eyes with a different lens to this work, you know? Seeing my dad out fighting for numerous causes and seeing the good outcomes, but also seeing some of the nasty things on the other ends of that helped me to realize how necessary this work is, but also how hard this work is.

My dad really ingrained in me the importance of knowing our history. He’d always talk to us about important Black figures. Always talk to us about how Black excellence is all around us all the time, not just during one month. So Black History Month is a great time for reflection and for us to honor a lot of folks that have come before us, and honor Black excellence, honor where we've gotten. But I think there's more to Black History Month than it just being crammed into a month. I think Black excellence is year-round, all day, every day, 24/7, 365 and so, this is great to celebrate for the month, but let's find a way to celebrate it all the time.

Out of Many, One.

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D.C. United: How important is it for you to be in a place that's so diverse?

Charity: It’s extremely important to be in a space that is diverse. A space of opportunities. I feel like DC isn't perfect, but DC. isn't bad. I really love this city. When I was growing up, a lot of the things that I dreamt about, being able to have opportunities. Things that I dreamt about being able to do and different opportunities that I just always thought were so far off because of where I grew up. Growing up in the South, in Rock Hill, South Carolina where just getting a job at Blockbuster was hard and also, to me, that was the best job in the world and now when we were moving to DC, seeing so many people that look like me in higher positions. Seeing so many people that look like me in my school. Seeing so many people out here that are hustling, whether they're in corporate or they're just out here in the streets. Whether they're in the schools, whether they're in the malls, wherever they are. Just folks out here, on that grind, and seeing so much Black excellence and seeing that this is possible really inspired me.

You know, we're living in a time right now where people are feeling this is a great time to reimagine what the future can look like, but it's hard to reimagine things that you've never seen before. It is possible, but it's very hard. So, having diversity and speaking from a lens of DC SCORES in the work that I do, I understand how important it is for kids to see people who look like them doing great things, seeing role models that look like them doing great things because they see more of themselves in those folks than they do other folks, and it's easier to imagine, it's easier to see it if someone looks more like you. To imagine yourself not even just doing what they're doing, but even excelling higher.

Out of Many, One.

Out of Many, One.

Out of Many, One.

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D.C. United: What kind of message do you have for people that are just struggling through this time, or how can people still keep hope during this time?

Charity: I would encourage folks to work on themselves so that when we come out of this, each person is bringing their full and best self to the restructure of whatever the world is going to be. Don't think so badly of things, feeling like they're falling or crumbling. If anything, sit in that discomfort. Embrace it, feel it, and push through it 'cause this feels more horrible than the rest, and this is probably, you feel like, one of your lowest points. Imagine pushing through it, and the rest of your life you can say “my lowest point was COVID”. So everything else is going to feel like cookies.

D.C. United: Being with DC SCORES, you’ve worked heavily with D.C. United. How has that relationship been?

Charity: I love D.C. United, Shoutout to the new coach coming in. I had a really good, close relationship with Ben Olsen. That's what drew me. My relationship with Ben Olsen really made me sold on D.C. United. I always liked them as an organization because of the things they do for our kids, how they've given great support and are advocates for the work that we do, and it provided our kids with so many great opportunities. Tickets to games, meeting up with different players, providing our kids with so many opportunities on the playing field and off the playing field.

D.C. United: We just appointed Danita Johnson as our new President of Business Operations, what are your thoughts about it?

Charity: I have to say I am extremely proud of D.C. United for making that move. I remember almost a year ago, D.C .United made their stance on being supportive of, you know, pushing Black Lives Matter, pushing a more DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) approach with the decisions that they make and how they are moving forward as an organization. I think that was a time also where a lot of organizations were doing that, and it was almost during a time where a lot of folks will worry that this was just performative stuff like, you're just saying this now, but let's see how time plays out. Who's really going to actually start implementing and making changes? And I can say that D.C. United has been one of those organizations that has really impressed me with the fact that they are standing by what they said. They said we're going to make this an initiative. We're going to put this into practice and that move was a very powerful move, a message to be sent. So, I’m proud of them.

Footnotes

📸: Javier Fernández-Dussaq. 📽️: Claudia Págan & Javier Fernández-Dussaq 🖥: Ian Kunsey.

FootNotes

📸: Javier Fernández-Dussaq. 📽️: Claudia Págan & Javier Fernández-Dussaq 🖥: Ian Kunsey.

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