Showing up for the National Day of Racial Healing

There are more than a hundred and seventy events in more than thirty states happening – both locally and virtually – for the National Day of Racial Healing. Have you made your plan for how you’ll show up?

In-Person Events

From panels to lectures, from coffeehouse performances to historic tours, from an hour to a day to a full week, there are hundreds of ways to participate in the National Day of Racial Healing. A few examples:

• The Mississippi Museum of Art offers Art and Voice as Healing, an evening of food, art and conversation. 
• The city of Lauderdale Lakes in Florida invites its residents to a Racial Healing Candlelight Ceremony.
• In Wisconsin, the Kenosha Coalition for Dismantling Racism invites the city to its 27th Annual Week of Kindness from Friday, Jan. 13 through Saturday, Jan. 21, including a free video series in the public museum’s Daimler Chrysler Hall.
• A Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation campus center at the University of Hawai’i in Manoa has classes paused for the full day to allow students, staff, and community members to join in Ku’u Home Aloha, a series of events to mark the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the 130-year anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawai’ian Kingdom. 

Check your state’s list of National Day of Racial Healing events to find one near you.

Virtual Events

In-person events aren’t the only way to participate in the National Day of Racial Healing. Many events are being held virtually, with the chance for anyone around the state – or around the country! – to join in. A few examples:

• From North Carolina, Raleigh Outreach Against Racism offers Healing Through Policy, a virtual meeting to explore racial healing and a framework for policy change.
• In California, the Center for Spiritual Awareness offers facilitated racial healing conversations online with two Healing Circles and four Discussion Groups.
• Deconstructing Racism New Mexico (DRNM) is offering two Anti-Racism Workshops by Zoom, conveniently available at 10am and 6pm MT. 

Some events are not only online, but available for participation anytime. From New York, the Health Equity Initiative shares the Racism is a Health Equity Issue Pledge, where signers commit to raising awareness about the health consequences of racism within their own communities.

#ChangingTheNarrative

In partnership with WKKF, NBCUniversal News Group recently released Changing the Narrative, a 14-part video series sponsored by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation on the subject of advancing racial equity through the experience of racial healing in four American cities: Buffalo, New York; Battle Creek, Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Selma, Alabama. Each city also has local events for the National Day of Racial Healing.

Just an hour outside of Buffalo, the Blackstorytelling League of Rochester invites visitors to join their third session of African-American stories, legends, tall tales and culture. In Michigan, the Battle Creek Coalition for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation is hosting Lifting Our Voices for Racial Equity (L.O.V.E.), a community celebration with dinner, entertainment, music & dancing – all free of charge. In New Orleans, Humana Healthy Horizons offers Just Healing, a panel on Black community access to care; the panel is available in-person and livestreamed.