GOLDEN VALLEY, Minnesota — Rose McGee is known for her sweet potato pies, but as she'll tell you, "We're more than just a good tasting, and more than just a pretty pie."
After a police officer killed 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014, McGee drove to Ferguson, Missouri with 30 sweet potato pies and gifted them to those in need of comfort.
"What I discovered while I was there was how people wanted to just be heard," McGee said.
Back in Minnesota, she continued baking pies and turned it into a catalyst for caring and building community.
So, why pies?
"Well, the sweet potato pie...I didn't call it; it called me," McGee said. "I consider the sweet potato pie as the sacred dessert of Black culture."
In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Sweet Potato Comfort Pie holds an annual weekend of service.
Volunteers baked 93 sweet potato pies to mark what would have been Dr. King's 93rd birthday. This year's main event on Sunday was a virtual gathering, followed by people grabbing a slice of pie at Breck School in Golden Valley. The theme was "Character Values: Upholding Our Beloved Community."
On Monday, people continued to pick up pies to be gifted to others.
"People may be getting a pie for any number of reasons. It can be painful; it can also be celebratory," McGee said. "Whatever it is, it's something that's being acknowledged and someone saying, 'I'm thinking about you. I see you. I care about you.'"
Sharon Sebring stopped by the school on Monday afternoon. Sebring's son, Don Damond, was weeks away from marrying Justine Ruszczyk Damond when a Minneapolis police officer shot and killed her.
Three years ago, Sebring received a pie.
"They brought us two pies, as a matter of fact. Two different people suggested our family. So the kindness of that brought me into being here today," Sebring said.
She went on to say, "There's so much noise about what is wrong. I like to devote my attention to what is right and what is working and this certainly is."
In the lobby of Breck School, there is an exhibit from Save the Boards — the preserved plywood murals created after the murder of George Floyd. The founder, Kenda Zellner-Smith, plans to speak to students later this week.
The lobby also holds an exhibit featuring individuals in the community who are making a difference. Each person has a character value associated with their photo.
"I call it 'hope in action' because these are people who are out here keeping the dream alive. Those words that are there on each of those boards describe what Dr. King spoke about in terms of beloved community and these are the characteristics that these individuals carry already. If we can get more and more people to understand some of these characteristics, it makes for a better world," McGee said.
"Rose's menu for the sweet potato pie reminds me of the menu for gathering and the work we have to do together. Even the character values that she has focused on and highlighted through the exhibit are character values that we need to remember," Ramsey County Commissioner Toni Carter said.
Carter's featured character value is "Tenacious."
Meanwhile, Deborah Watts' is "Relentless." Watts is the cousin of Emmett Till and co-founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation.
"This is a powerful moment for all of us and it's something that I think Rose has said: 'Onward,'" Watts said. "So we're called to action to go onward, as well."
McGee added, "It's what's in the batter that matters. It's what's in our hearts and what we really think about in our minds of trying to do better and be better servants."
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