[ Home ] [ About DV ] [ Blog ]

10/30/2005

Law School Administrator, Rev Dr Jessica Davis, Launches Beloved Community Study Circle for Social Justice
to Empower Historically Disadvantaged People

CARBONDALE, Ill., Oct. 30 /Christian Wire Service/ -- In America, historically disenfranchised communities, people of color and women, have a heritage of isolation and voicelessness as a result of the human condition: the sins of classism, racism and sexism. The passion for this project, the Beloved Community Study Circle for Social Justice, has grown out of this heritage into a civic responsibility of empowering historically disadvantaged people to the extent that they are able to come out of economic, emotional, social and spiritual isolation and voicelessness.

The Study Circle is asking the nation to face a critical issue-how to build a Beloved Community. The Study Circle is asking the nation to get involved in a virtual community discussion, www.belovedcommunitystudycircle.org, by examining Dr. Martin Luther King's teachings on the Beloved Community and the nonviolent resistance method as tools to address issues of social injustices in their communities. This is an opportunity for people from all backgrounds and all parts of the nation to participate in this constructive online conversation, and propose ways to build a Beloved Community as an individual change agent.

The Beloved Community Study Circle progresses over four consecutive weeks starting with a session on personal experience ("How does social injustice affect me?") to sessions providing broader perspectives ("What are others saying about social injustice?") to a session on action ("What can I do about the social injustice in my community?"). The goal of the Study Circle is to address the issues of economic, emotional, social and spiritual isolation and voicelessness of people of color and women.

Dr. Davis completed a successful West Virginia pilot program of this project in May 2005. The participants, known as the citizens, of the Beloved Community Study Circle stated that the Study Circle was a good program and should continue with the development of other online communities. The citizens' knowledge of the nonviolence resistance method increased, knowledge of the Beloved Community methodology increased, and knowledge of the landmark Civil Rights cases increased as a result of participating in the modules. The citizens' stated that their understanding of their attitudes and beliefs also increased after completing the four modules, and their understanding of others' attitudes and beliefs also increased as a result of participating in the Study Circle for Social Justice. The citizens gave the project an overall rating of good to very good. Copies of this action research project will be available soon.