Community activist inspiring people to walk and vote

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Community activist Devine Carama started his very long journey in Pikeville, he promised people that he would walk 400 miles if they promise to vote.

“It was just life changing for me,” Carama said.

This life changing experience wasn’t only inspiring for Carama, but for the people following along through social media as well.

And along the way he got to meet all kinds of different people, with different opinions.

“We vote differently but if we’re able to maintain that respect and positivity we can have these conversations and even though we may still be different, walk away different we learn from one another,” Carama said.

While walking through different areas, he got a lot of positive feedback, but not everyone was welcoming.

“I got called the n word a couple times or people would see me and assume it was political so they would scream Trump 2020,” Carama said.

He says the biggest challenge was missing his family and walking up and down the mountains.

Walking 400 miles is no easy task, in nine days carama got to 309 miles, he couldn’t continue on but that wasn’t the end.

While Carama finished walking in Paducah right next to a sign honoring Breonna Taylor, he asked for some last minute help getting that last 100 miles.

People following along on social media more than quadrupled that, walking another 572 miles and posting photos online!

Whether he encouraged people to vote, he may never know but it’s clear he had some impact.

“At the least I think I inspired people that hey I can be different from somebody else but we can still get along and coexist,” Carama said.