Pillar 3:

Courageous and Interconnected Community John R. Lewis's Courageous and Interconnected Community

"We've come a long way, but we still have a distance to go before all of our citizens embrace the idea of a truly interracial democracy, what I like to call the Beloved Community, a nation at peace with itself." - John R. Lewis

The Creation of a Beloved Community

What is Beloved Community?

" 'Beloved'— not hateful, not violent, not uncaring, not unkind. 'Community'— not separated, not polarized, not adversarial." - John R Lewis

The concept of the Beloved Community originated out of both American philosophy and the spirituality and activism of the African-American church. This ideal first emerged in the late 19th century in the work of the American philosopher Josiah Royce. Dr. King took the concept and developed it in the context of his activism in the civil rights movement.

King's beloved community inspired John Lewis and fueled his work for social justice. He led by example so that others could see what Beloved Community looked like and to inspire them as well, stating “You live as if you’re already there, that you’re already in that community, part of that sense of one family, one house. If you visualize it, if you can even have faith that it’s there, for you it is already there.”

Characteristics of King's Beloved Community

Beloved Community describes a realistic, achievable goal that could be attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the philosophy and methods of nonviolence.
While conflict still exists in the Beloved Community, it is resolved through peaceful conflict-resolution and reconciliation through a mutual, determined commitment to nonviolence and cooperation in a spirit of friendship and goodwill.
The Beloved Community's ultimate goal is integration, which is genuine inter-group and inter-personal living with an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood.
A core value of Beloved Community is agape love- an overflowing spontaneous, unmotivated, groundless and creative love which is seeking to preserve and create community, understanding, and goodwill for all.
Within the Beloved Community, justice is indivisible and not for any one oppressed group, but for all people as a birthright of every human being.
In the Beloved Community, human decency will not allow hunger, poverty, homelessness, and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice.

The King Center : THE BELOVED COMMUNITY [webpage]

bell hooks quote on beloved community

Moving Forward

Ahead, you will see how other UCSC students have engaged in Courageous and Interconnected Community.