PHOTO/ASHLEY MAHONEY

The crowd at the On The Table CLT forum at the United House of Prayer on Mint Street applaud speakers James Ford, left and Harvey Gantt Wednesday.

Dear Charlotte,

It’s time to put up or shut up.

Charlotteans like to talk. Five thousand people gathered at various locations across Mecklenburg County this morning for the inaugural On the Table|CLT event, with The United House of Prayer for All People serving as one of several venues for community discussions. It featured former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt and James Ford, the 2014-15 North Carolina Teacher of the Year as the “icon” and “rising star” of civil rights figures in Charlotte.

On the Table|CLT, a Knight Foundation project that started with The Chicago Community Trust, looks and sounds a lot like other events that have taken place across Mecklenburg County before and after the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in September 2016. While their tagline claims that “engagement is action,” will another series of community conversations change anything in Charlotte? September 2016 has been eclipsed by September 2017, and by the time this column runs in print, it will be November. Charlotte has issues—deep-rooted, dirty, disgusting issues that a 25-year-old from rural New York never dreamed could exist in the 21^st century.

“It was not long ago where people were sort of pushing the narrative that America was postracial,” Ford said. “We are not even post racist.”

Said Gantt: “Racism has always been there. We all know that.”

They’re both right. Charlotte needs more Fords and Gantts in the world, and while this morning’s gathering was filled with people around their respective ages—brilliant individuals with life experiences that would blow your mind—it didn’t include many people near mine. Please don’t use the word millennial. I can hear the disdain on your lips before they can even form the m.

“Some folks work hard at not knowing,” Ford said. “I’ve only been here seven years, but I’ve been told Charlotte loves to talk.”

Ignorance really is bliss. For all of the years I’ve spent poring over books and dedicated for education, it didn’t prepare me for Charlotte. After three and a half years of calling this city home, I’ve been to more community events than I can count. There I’ve seen people talk…and talk…and talk…and talk. Have these events been educational? Absolutely, but there’s a sense of redundancy where people want to talk and feel good about themselves for having these discussions, but rarely have I seen them step up and do much of anything.

Gantt emphasized that it is more difficult to change minds than it is to change laws, and that “people are making a difference.” Valid points, and maybe using Scott’s death, the city’s reaction and the time elapsed since aren’t fair barometers to measure progress, but as someone who hopes to call Charlotte home for years to come, enough is enough. Charlotte, we are better than this. Our words can only do so much, but our actions will decide the city’s future.

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