MLK’s vision for a beloved community was a just, humane, and nonviolent community where everyone is treated with dignity and possesses equal rights. That in a beloved community, people from different backgrounds and beliefs cooperate for the greater good of that community. That sounds like Keene most of the time.
Sociologists use the term social capital to describe how communities create well-being. Well-being is a composite of correlating factors, (welcoming, attractive, progressive, developmental, quality public services, philanthropic, caring for others).
Together, these factors create relationships that lead to mutual cooperation and adds to a community’s quality of life. All that wraps into the concept of social capital. It’s the foundation upon which sociologists Robert Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett base their ideas about how communities with better social capital distinguish themselves.
Presently in Keene, we have lots of with-in group bonding. We have a noticeably high share of the state’s not for profits in Cheshire County. There’s also a lot of bridging between groups, if for no other reason that you are involved with multiple organizations. That kind of between-group cooperation gets more things done. I think people in this room can feel proud of that. There’s a high degree of Trust and Reciprocity throughout the Keene area. We can build on that.
So, when it came time to see how we might update Keene’s welcoming statement to reflect state anti-discrimination statutes, that idea ran into several potholes. Keene’s Pride organization wanted Keene to declare itself a sanctuary city. At the same time, the federal government was contemplating funding freezes on sanctuary cities.
If the City updated its welcoming declaration, an aspirational statement, it would confront recently enacted state legislation where city governments could lose state funds if they have diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Within the city there was a feeling of one in four people, who came to one public meeting to discuss changes, that Keene shouldn’t provide a statement of support for one group, LBGTQ+, that doesn’t reflect the same support for all. That feeling was fed by federal and state leaders threatening to roll-back LBGTQ+ equal rights.
Ideally Keene could use its social capital to arrive at a shared goal, a mutual understanding that uses language of equal rights for all groups and recognizes currently or historically disadvantaged groups.
Alas, there was no desire to invest in gaining that understanding. LGBTQ+ leaders felt “Do I need to justify my choice of lifestyle again to someone who probably won’t agree that it’s my choice.” And the equal rights for one and all people didn’t trust that there was an unbiassed facilitator to lead the discussion, definitely not our clergy leaders, who had testified in favor a revised statement. Keene was bonding within groups but not bridging between them.
There’s a recent Ezra Klein podcast with James Tellerico, a TX state senator studying to be a minister and running for US Senate as a democrat. Tellerico was also a recent guest of Joe Rogan, so he’s of equal interest for both left and right wing commentators. Tellerico says to move people, quoting Jesus, “you need the heart of a dove and mind of a serpent.” Tellerico quotes King’s adaptation for his movement was, “to possess tough minds and tender hearts”. Tellerico interprets King’s adaptation to reinforce the importance of being strategic in one’s language to find common ground. Give people the opportunity to do the right thing.
Tellerico’s notes that regressive rhetoric, designed to take us backwards, uses fear and anger and division to justify going back to what was. The mistake of progressive thought, to move us forward, is to use the same language.
To convince people to embrace a vision forward we need language that inspires, and cultivates hope. It is the language initially used by Barak Obama in his run to the presidency and expressed in his book The Audacity of Hope.
Back to the LGBTQ+ stalemate, to move past that, the Council asked me to deliver a proclamation, an aspirational statement that doesn’t require a declaration of policy or program, which I did on Keene’s Pride Day in September 2025.
The Proclamations states, “Keene’s welcoming statement promotes
unity, pledges support for marginalized groups and condemns acts of
racism, hate, bigotry, and prejudice in our city.
I concluded stating two aspirational goals: 1) The City of Keene is dedicated to building a community where all individuals feel safe and respected, where people feel a sense of belonging, and where all can believe in a future for themselves and their families without fear of intimidation or harassment; and 2) that leaders in Keene share an obligation to create safe spaces where people can express with respect and civility their fears and desires, and where we can learn from each other’s lived experiences.
We need to work together to create those safe spaces and opportunities where we can listen to each other’s lived experiences. Where we can have difficult conversations in pursuit of King’s “beloved community” and build our social capital.
Let’s, together, continue that work.
