Retired Marine spreading message of love, unity nationwide

Since the beginning of June, retired Marine Carlen Charleston is on a mission to heal what he considers a racial divide in America.

He’s traveling across the U.S. spreading his message of “Unity through service and love for all mankind” across the country.

“If we really want a better life, then we got to be better," Charleston said.

Charleston is a retired Marine who after 20 years is still fighting for his country.

“Everybody has experienced what division that has happened in our country over the last few years, and we think it’s growing intensely every day,” Charleston said.

That division inspired Charleston to hit the road driving across the country spreading the message of unity.

“To be here in Richmond makes it about 37 cities of the 100 I will have visited in the next two months,” Charleston said. “You have science and religion agreeing we are all one race. That means it got to be solid. We all are one race, but now we got to begin to live that way.”

Instead of just talking, Charleston wants to find and inspire solutions. He said that begins with making connections with people and learning who they are.

“Once you connect with people and you get that heart connection, then you think of them differently," Charleston said. “We do have a bad history, we do have a lot of things that has happened, but it’s an understanding that we can go forward."

Charleston will be heading to Maine next and then on to Chicago.