Beloved Community

In order to achieve a future in which every girl and woman is valued, respected, and empowered to reach her full potential, we must find new ways to be with ourselves and each other, rooted in love, compassion, and grace.Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. popularized the idea of “Beloved Community” — a world void of oppression, discrimination, violence, and bigotry that is fueled instead by friendship, good will, and deep human connection.At Move to End Violence, we embraced Dr. King’s vision of a Beloved Community by embedding community-building and relationship building into everything we did. We cultivated practices such as sharing our cultures, heritage, ancestors, gifts and strengths, histories, lived experiences, and truths – as well as our questions, dilemmas, and learning edges. These practices helped us to show up fully as ourselves in movement-building spaces, build authentic relationships with one another, take risks in service of our transformation, and hold ourselves and each other accountable as we work together.