Charles Mugabe - June 2022

Community Leader

He was just a child when war drove Charles Mugabe and his family from their home in the Democratic Republic of Congo to a refugee camp in Uganda before finally arriving in the U.S., settling first in Maryland before moving to Maine in search of a safer and more welcoming environment. Although he and his family “count ourselves lucky” to have found a home in Maine, it has not been without its challenges, particularly when an attempt to help during a traffic accident ended up with him being wrongly accused. “I couldn’t imagine that because of just the way I looked people could suspect me — that just showed me what racial injustice looks like, not just in the system, but in the community. And that’s not good. Right now in this society we should be thinking of humanity first. I am human. You are human. At home we have the opportunity to teach the next generation. Racial discussions have to start from home. We have to talk about police brutality. These are very difficult discussions, but we need to have them in order to truly acknowledge where we’re at and where we want to be. It’s time to engage everyone in this conversation. We’re all neighbors.”

Charles recommends a TED Talk by Megan Francis, Addressing the Real Roots of Racial Violence, to get the conversation started.