Hundreds gather at First Baptist Church for MLK weekend's racial healing dialogue

The National Day of Racial Healing Community Conversation aimed to bring together people from across the city to find solutions and bridge the gap between communities.

This event was not a sermon but a solution.

Nearly 200 people spent three hours talking through some of the prickliest issues in America today, healing and reconciling over race.

"I heard commitment. I heard heart," Lisa Scott said.

Scott is the Chief DEI officer for the YMCA of the Triangle, and she helped organize the community conversation.

"Think the dominant narrative is that, a), we don't get along with each other, and b), we don't care," Scott said. "I think we do, but I think we have to find spaces and opportunities for people to come together."

The space chosen for this conversation, the 200-year-old First Baptist church of Raleigh, is symbolic, especially given the story of its founding.

"There were 14 members of African descent and nine members of European descent, so it began as a bi-racial church, a very unusual thing," Rev. Christopher Chapman, pastor of First Baptist Church, said.

During the Saturday marathon session, speakers gave way to group discussions and then presentations on what these people hoped could make a difference.

"I need to begin with making a friendship with you. And getting to know you. and when I get to know you, and sharing my story, and you sharing your story, that's where the difference comes," Reggie Edwards said.

Edwards is The Encouraging Place's founder and executive director and has been key in organizing this event for the last two years.

A concrete step, she hopes, to building a better world.

"It's not enough to just listen. We need to do something," Edwards said.