At the meeting of the Community Builders on Monday night at Knox Elementary, Ruby Sales shared her thoughts about manners to improve this community through a reasoning called the beloved community. Alice West also shared personal experience stories about the events of the Civil Rights Movement in Selma in the 1960s.

“At the heart of the beloved community is the message of love and the message of justice,” Ms. Sales said. “And you cannot love God without loving other people.”

The group discussed the ideas of the concept of the beloved community because Ms. Sales insisted that the meeting be a discussion, rather than a presentation. “I don’t want to just sit up and talk to adults,” Ms. Sales said. “I want feedback.”

Ms. Sales then brought up the idea of “somebody-ism,” the idea that it does not matter who you are, because in God’s eyes you are somebody. Ms. Sales linked this idea to the vision of Dr . Martin Luther King, Jr. “I believe that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision has relevance in our lives,” Ms. Sales said. “The dream is not about going to sleep, but about building a beloved community.

Ms. Sales is the older sister of Rep. Yusuf Salaam, a member of the Community Builders. Rep. Salaam