Asheville Area residents gather to reflect on the political, spiritual, cultural and historical meaning of the shrouding of the Vance Monument.
Asheville – Residents of the Asheville area will gather behind the Vance Monument, masked and with social distance, on Saturday, August 15 at 10am to listen to speakers and music which will reflect the political, spiritual, cultural and historical meaning of the shrouding of Vance Monument. Martin Luther King imagined a Beloved Community to be a society based on justice, equal opportunity and love of fellow human beings. With that in mind we invite everyone to gather with us at the Vance Monument.
The gathering to Move Toward a Beloved Community on August 15th will explore how to turn the decisions about the Vance Monument into an opportunity for healing the wounds created by white supremacy and racism in our community. Since both Black, Brown and White people have been hurt, our whole community has an opportunity in this process to be healed.
This gathering is being organized by a group of Elders who have stood at the Vance Monument every morning for 10 weeks in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. It began when Steve Norris decided to stand at the monument holding a Black Lives Matter sign on his birthday June 2. Steve is a retired professor at Warren Wilson College and he has been an activist since the civil rights movement in the 1960s. More recently he focused his activism on climate and energy issues. He is on the board of directors of Community Roots, where he is a beloved elder and his passion, knowledge and listening skills are deeply valued.
The program will include: Rev. LC Ray with opening words. Rev. Ray is a local minister of 49 years, an Asheville resident of 81 years and CEO of One Youth At A Time, a non-profit for disenfranchised youth.
The Master of Ceremonies is Robert Zachary and we will hear his powerful singing voice as well. Zack is a chaplain, poet, storyteller, vocalist, visionary and activist, he entered the Civil Rights Movement at age 11 and had the honor of meeting Martin Luther King Jr. at age fifteen.
Daniel Suber will speak about the cultural meaning of the Vance shrouding. He currently works with Word on the Street as a youth coordinator, Circle Forward as a facilitator and with Asheville Greenworks as an environmental youth advocate. Daniel enjoys working with and showing up for efforts that support youth and communities.
The gathering will also include a healing ritual featuring the ringing of bells and moments of silence, additional music and the reading of Martin Luther King’s speech about Beloved Community, “the aftermath of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community, while the aftermath of violence is tragic bitterness.”