Yesterday morning I woke up much like many Sunday mornings. I met up with my fiancée Katie and brother Don to have breakfast and read the morning papers. It was rainy out, so we decided to have breakfast at my house. We had all hosted a Woodward Dream Cruise party the night before so my backyard was still riddled with empty cans and party favors. After breakfast, we all pitched in to clean the yard and restore it to its pre-party condition. It was about this time that we agreed to go out a support an event that we all felt could someday be a trans-community effort to bridge city lines and promote an act of kindness for all of humanity. The event was “Hands Along Woodward”. It was an event organized by the Woodward Avenue Action Association. The organization had hoped to draw volunteers to hold hands along Woodward Avenue from Hart Plaza in Detroit all the way to Pontiac . The holding of hands was to symbolize a region of strength, heritage, diversity and pride. As part of the coordinated effort, the churches along Woodward would ring their church bells simultaneously at 2pm.

It is estimated that for the event to fully stretch from Detroit to Pontiac would require the participation of 45,000 people. Being the first year for the event, it was going to be tough to generate that kind of participation and despite Mother Nature’s persistency to cast a light rainfall, supporters still showed up. Although the number of participants was well below the needed 45,000, one thing was certain; the message of diversity and pride was heard. Katie, Don, and I joined hands with neighbors and supporters to help represent Royal Oak . Cars passing by honked their horns in support and a feeling of unity spread among participants and communities.

I hope that this year’s event will gain enough traction to warrant an even stronger turnout next year. Thank you to all.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 7:21 am and is filed under Royal Oak Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.