Neighbors in the Lake Claire and Decatur area will come together for a community walk on Saturday, Nov. 15, at 9 a.m. inspired by the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Boyd Baker, a Lake Claire resident, had the idea to host a three-mile walk for people in the area to slow down and talk with their neighbors after feeling despondent about the lack of neighbor interaction and connection he felt.
“I thought this is a chance where people can get together and they can meet a neighbor, maybe somebody they don’t know, maybe somebody who’s one street over, and you can find you can still get along and be good humans,” he told Rough Draft. “We don’t have to agree on everything because we almost never will. The important thing is that we’re doing things that are best for our community and to try to make the world a better place.”
The Beloved Community Walk will start at Decatur Courthouse square and continue three miles through five neighborhoods to Candler Park. Baker was inspired by the event’s namesake: “The Beloved Community,” first coined by Fellowship of Reconciliation founder Josiah Royce in the early 20th century and popularized by King, is a realistic community ideal attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence. Baker says he hopes his walk is “a small step (no pun intended)” toward this vision of community building.
“As humans, we get to decide how those communities act and how we work together,” Baker said. “The thing that’s so great about a community is as humans, when you do join or are part of it, is that you get to benefit from everyone’s experience and from everyone’s strengths. Sometimes those are going to be opinions that differ, that maybe push you in a better direction than you would’ve done on your own.”
The walk will also serve as a fundraiser for Intown Cares, an organization providing food and homeless services to Atlantans, and Paint Love, a non-profit connecting youth facing poverty and trauma with arts programming. People can pay $25 to register for the event, which will be donated to the organizations, but Baker says registration is not necessary to participate.
To learn more and register, visit belovedusa.org.
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