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Community To Celebrate MLK With Conversations About Race Over Pie

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- To honor Dr. Martin Luther King on what would have been the week of his 87th birthday people came together in Golden Valley this weekend to bake 87 pies.

The event is spearheaded by Rose McGee, who's known in the community for her delicious sweet potato pies. After high profile police shootings, she's sent her pies to Ferguson, Missouri and delivered them to the 4th precinct in Minneapolis.

The pies will be given away Sunday at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley where people are welcome to share their concerns about social justice issues. Anyone who takes home a pie is encouraged to gift it to someone else.

"I consider the sweet potato pie to be the sacred desert of black culture," McGee said. "And it's only befitting, then, if we're acknowledging Dr. King on his birthday ... and now we can bring people around this particular desert."

McGee says the pies serve as a symbol for caring and building community relationships.

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