Mark Dorosin鈥檚 path to civil rights law was never straight. He followed many a winding course, skirting the optimism of teaching, exploring the pride of public office and even holding down the 9 to 5 as a manager at Blockbuster Video.
At each step, his idealism clashed with reality, leaving him to wonder how a person makes a difference in this world.
But he continued to fight the good fight right until the present. Today, he is the managing attorney at the and a member of the .
鈥淵ou look around and you see what you perceive as inequities or injustice,鈥� he told Frank Stasio on The State of Things. 鈥淎nd you either decide that you鈥檙e going to do something about that, or you have to accept those.鈥�
Early in his career, he thought teaching would be a pathway for affecting change, but the institutional barriers were too much. After a short stint in retail, he went back to school and became a civil rights attorney. But that wasn鈥檛 enough. Eventually he decided politics was for him.
鈥淓verybody who does activism or social justice at some point has to confront the idea, 鈥楤oy if I could just be involved with the policy making, I could really make a difference.鈥欌��
He joined the , but became disenchanted after one term. He owned a bar called 鈥淗ell鈥� in Chapel Hill for a number of years. Eventually, he returned to civil rights law and decided to try his hand at politics once again.
He just started his first term on the Orange County Board of Commissioners. He is optimistic about that and happy with his work at the Center for Civil Rights. He鈥檚 hoping it will be his home for some time to come.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to stay at the Center,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he Center is an incredible place. We鈥檙e doing really innovative civil rights advocacy.鈥�
