Fresh Loaf

Archives | RSS

  |  
Pin It
Share

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Community On MLK Holiday, everybody puts in work

Posted by Rodney Carmichael on Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 8:59 AM

Keri Cawley of Architects for Humanity

January 21, 2013 - MLK Day might be the only holiday on record that elicits such a sense of civic responsibility. More than Christmas or Thanksgiving, more than Independence Day or Memorial Day, more than any other American icon's birthday, we often feel compelled to do something on Martin Luther King's holiday, something positive, something charitable, something selfless. And if we don't, we're apt to feel a twinge of guilt about it. Whereas other holidays are all about overindulging in barbecued pork ribs or roasted turkey, or purchasing overpriced gifts with the hope that someone else thought as much of you, only one U.S. holiday has a call to action for a slogan: Make it a day on, not a day off.

Now, the cynic in me would say, ain't that a blip: Name a holiday in a black man's honor and the script gets flipped from cold lounging to hard labor. But my inner humanitarian imagines that King would have had it no other way.

Which is why I rolled out of bed Monday morning to head toward Washington Park, where the local branch of Architects for Humanity set aside a few hours for an MLK Day service project. Located off of the Atlanta thoroughfare that bears King's name and less than a mile from his former school, Booker T. Washington High, the neighborhood park is an inner-city gem, complete with a natatorium and tennis courts that sit right next to the future Atlanta BeltLine.

The local branch of the national organization Architects For Humanity co-adopted a quarter mile of the southwest portion of the BeltLine about three years ago. Every few months, the members log nine collective hours cleaning up the dirt path that cuts a swath through the woods behind the old homes.

"When we first came out here we thought we had the sporting goods section of the Beltline because we found old bowling balls and golf clubs and a bunch of balls," says Keri Cawley, a member of AFH. "So we all set up the balls and started hitting them. And we set up Coke cans and started bowling."

MLK Day volunteer Quentin Pegram

But the fun and games are just a cover for all the hard work they do cleaning up their quarter-mile stretch once a quarter. It's a repetitive task. One that often finds them collecting dead branches and old tires, discarded two-by-fours and busted sheetrock over and over again.

When I got there at 11 a.m., Cawley and one other volunteer, Quentin Pegram, were rolling tires to the trash pick-up point. AFH's Atlanta chapter is a small group, no more than about seven members, says Cawley. Still, she'd hoped for more outside volunteers until she says she got a message from a couple of friends saying they were "a little too hung over from the games yesterday" to make it. I felt like dead weight with nothing but a tape recorder and notebook in my hand, so Cawley told me to help myself to an extra pair of work gloves.

A little bit later, two schoolteachers arrived, eager to pitch in. I asked one of them how she usually spends MLK Day. "Um, watch[ing] 'The Young and the Restless,'" she said, before laughing it off. "Not really. Stay[ing] home in the bed, probably. I mean, just taking it as a day off, really. But instead of doing that this year I just decided to come out. Why not help and give back?"

2326.jpg

She was all smiles, too. Funny how it only takes a little giving to make us feel great about ourselves. For the first time in my adult life, I was working for something other than my own paycheck on King Day. My inner humanitarian started to feel warm all over. But the cynic in me couldn't help but think about the transformation of the neighborhood that could ultimately result, and how a rise in property values might eventually push some people out once the BeltLine is completed. We'd all come from different communities to give back to this neighborhood this morning, yet no one from the neighborhood was here to pitch in. Maybe our idea of progress isn't shared by them, I thought to myself.

After an hour or so, I turned in my gloves, said goodbye and got in my car. On the way back, I passed Washington High School and saw a good-sized group of teenagers and parents taking part in what looked like their own MLK service day. They were busy planting flowers and beautifying their school. It was good to see King's old stomping grounds so well maintained. I almost stopped to get a quick quote from one of them, but then another thought emerged: What if they try to put me to work?

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Comments (2)

Showing 1-2 of 2

Add a comment

 
Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS
Showing 1-2 of 2

Add a comment

Latest in Fresh Loaf

More by Rodney Carmichael

Search Events

all events
concerts
restaurants
movie times

Search Fresh Loaf

Recent Comments

Top Commenters

Most Popular
Most Shared
Most Commented

© 2013 Creative Loafing Atlanta
Powered by Foundation