|
LET’S MAKE THIS THE DECADE OF EMOTIONAL EMANCIPATION FOR BLACK PEOPLE!
Over the course of the next nine years, the Community Healing Network will be working to dramatically increase the number of Black people actively engaged in their own emotional healing and in the healing of their families and communities.
Between 2010 and 2019, the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans in America, CHN will be working to build a strong network of community healing self-help and support groups in Black neighborhoods around the country and across the world. We will do this through the annual celebration of Community Healing Days, the offerings of the Community Healing Institute (through which we will provide workshops, trainings, and trainings of trainers), and the presentation of Community Healer Awards (for outstanding contributions to community healing).
Our goals are to dramatically increase the number of: 1) community healing book clubs and movie clubs; 2) community healing rites of passage programs for children and youth; 3) healing workshops for families; 4) healing circles; 5) healing prison initiatives; and 6) networks of Black mental health professionals working in a coordinated way to support these grassroots self-help initiatives. We will rigorously evaluate and measure our progress.
We are available for consultation with any group seeking more information or guidance on building a local movement for community healing. Contact us at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
. We welcome your ideas on building the movement for emotional emancipation. Please share your thoughts with us at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
so that we can share them with our brothers and sisters across the country and around the world.
Let’s stay connected as we work together to make this the decade of emotional emancipation for Black people!
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Here are steps you can take to help build the movement for emotional freedom for Black people--during Community Healing Days and in the months and years to come.
Individuals
Join the movement. Sign up to Wear Sky Blue on Community Healing Days. Make a commitment to work toward emotional emancipation for yourself, your family, and your community.
Read CHN’s featured book for Community Healing Days 2010: Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority, by Tom Burrell, an excellent book that describes how the myth of Black inferiority is still hurting Black people today and identifies a range of strategies for overcoming the myth.
Help us make this the decade of emotional emancipation for Black people. Make plans now to celebrate Community Healing Days every year and invite your family and friends to put the celebration of Community Healing Days (on the third weekend of every October) on their calendars as well.
Treat yourself with special care on Community Healing Days. Make it a point to eat right (vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and lean proteins; eat less sugar and salt), exercise for at least 30 minutes each day, and make sure you are scheduled for your next medical check-up. Sign up for a course in relaxation, stress reduction, or meditation. Listen to music that calms, uplifts, and inspires you. Make a list of the good things about yourself and your life and take time to be grateful for each one. Make a list of positive affirmations (For example, “I am beautiful; I am capable; I am lovable; I am worthy of all good things; I will achieve greatness) and set aside time each day to repeat these affirmations to yourself to get them into your spirit.
Treat other Black people with special care on Community Healing Days. Share the spirit of Community Healing Days. Make it a point to smile. Compliment and say kind, encouraging words to every Black person you meet. Encourage them to take extra special care of themselves.
Encourage the civic groups and faith communities with which you are involved to put the issue of emotional emancipation for Black people and community healing at the top of their agendas.
Parents
Be especially loving and attentive to your children. Tell them often that you love them, that they are beautiful, lovable, capable, worthy of all good things, and destined for greatness. Tell each of your children what is special about him or her.
Give your children extra hugs.
Consider signing up for a parenting course to strengthen your positive parenting and family-building skills.
Civic and social groups
Establish a community healing book club. Start with Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell and add the following books to your group’s reading list:
- A Song Flung Up to Heaven, by Dr. Maya Angelou
- Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem, by bell hooks
- Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, by Dr. Joy DeGruy
- The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
- Lay My Burden Down, by Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. and Amy Alexander.
- What Mama Couldn’t Tell Us About Love: Healing the Emotional Legacy of Racism By Celebrating Our Light, Brenda Lane Richardson and Brenda Wade
- Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting, Terrie Williams
Establish a community healing movie club. Below is a list of movies to get you started and here are a few questions to help launch a discussion about each movie. How do you see the myth of Black inferiority at work in the lives of Black people in this movie? What damage does it do to the men and women in the movie? How did the myth get passed on to the people in the story? In what ways is this movie like “real life” for Black people? What steps can we take as a people to overcome the myth of Black inferiority?
- Akeelah and the Bee, directed by Doug Atchison
- Antwone Fisher, directed by Denzel Washington
- A Place of Our Own, a documentary by Stanley Nelson
- A Soldier’s Story, directed by Norman Jewison
- Beloved, directed by Jonathan Demme
- Down in the Delta, directed by Maya Angelou
- Pride, directed by Suni Gonera
- The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington
Establish a community healing circle. Terrie Williams’ book, Black Pain, pages 295-298, contains a simple and easy guide to starting and sustaining a healing circle.
Health care providers
Sponsor community healing teach-ins—convene panels of local physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals to discuss the emotional, mental, and physical health status of the Black community and steps that must be taken to promote emotional healing and wellness for Black people.
Network with other Black mental health professionals-- to support grassroots community healing efforts with resources and referrals.
Help establish and sustain community a healing circle in your city or town. Terrie Williams’ book, Black Pain, pages 295-298, contains a simple and easy guide to starting and sustaining a healing circle.
Faith Communities
Pray for emotional healing and renewal for Black people.
Hold a special service focused on healing for Black people during Community Healing Days.
Sponsor a community healing walk—a walk designed to bear witness to the need for emotional healing and renewal for Black people, to share the vision of making this the decade of emotional emancipation for Black people, and to talk with people about Community Healing Days, the Wear Sky Blue initiative, and the movement for emotional freedom for Black people. In preparation for the walk, get together with the members of your faith community to create hand-made posters with messages that raise awareness about the myth of Black inferiority and urge people to join the movement for emotional freedom. Here are a few suggestions of poster messages just to get you started: “Say Yes to Emancipation from the Myth of Black Inferiority;” “Say Yes to Emotional Freedom for Black People Everywhere!” “It’s time for Black people to be completely free—in body, mind, and spirit.” “Join the Movement for Emotional Emancipation for Black People.”
Establish a community healing book club. Start with Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell and add the following books to your group’s reading list:
- A Song Flung Up to Heaven, by Dr. Maya Angelou
- Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem, by bell hooks
- Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, by Dr. Joy DeGruy
- The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison,
- Lay My Burden Down, by Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. and Amy Alexander.
- What Mama Couldn’t Tell Us About Love: Healing the Emotional Legacy of Racism By Celebrating Our Light, Brenda Lane Richardson and Brenda Wade
- Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting, Terrie M.Williams
Establish a community healing movie club. Below is a list of movies to get you started and here are a few questions to help launch a discussion about each movie. How do you see the myth of Black inferiority at work in the lives of Black people in this movie? What damage does it do to the men and women in the movie? How did the myth get passed on to the people in the story? In what ways is this movie like “real life” for Black people? What steps can we take as a people to overcome the myth of Black inferiority?
- Akeelah and the Bee, directed by Doug Atchison
- Antwone Fisher, directed by Denzel Washington
- A Place of Our Own, a documentary by Stanley Nelson
- A Soldier’s Story, directed by Norman Jewison
- Beloved, directed by Jonathan Demme
- Down in the Delta, directed by Maya Angelou
- Pride, directed by Suni Gonera
- The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington
Establish a community healing circle. Terrie Williams’ book, Black Pain, pages 295-298, contains a simple and easy guide to starting and sustaining a healing circle.
Youth Groups
Text. Organize a text message initiative encouraging people to Wear Sky Blue during Community Healing Days.
Read CHN’s Featured Book for Community Healing Days: Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell.
Start a community healing movie club. Below is a list of movies to get you started and here are a few questions to help launch a discussion about each movie. How do you see the myth of Black inferiority at work in the lives of Black people in this movie? What damage does it do to the men and women in the movie? How did the myth get passed on to the people in the story? In what ways is this movie like “real life” for Black people? What steps can we take as a people to overcome the myth of Black inferiority?
- Akeelah and the Bee, directed by Doug Atchison
- Antwone Fisher, directed by Denzel Washington
- The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington
Establish a community healing circle. Terrie M. Williams’ book, Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting, pages 295-298, contains a simple and easy guide to starting and sustaining a healing circle.
Governmental authorities and agencies
Issue a proclamation in support of Community Healing Days. Attached is a sample proclamation.
Review policies and practices. Review government policies and practices to see if, and to what extent, they are influenced by and/ or promote the myth of Black inferiority and develop a comprehensive plan for remedial action.
Teachers and librarians
Teach-ins. Organize lectures, film viewings, or book discussions on the myth of Black inferiority. Focus on Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell and on the following movies:
- Akeelah and the Bee, directed by Doug Atchison
- Antwone Fisher, directed by Denzel Washington
- The Great Debaters, directed by Denzel Washington
Creative competitions. Sponsor art, music, writing, design, drawing and web-based material competitions that raise awareness of the continuing impact of the myth of Black inferiority and strategies for overcoming it with the winners' works being published, printed, or otherwise widely distributed.
Libraries. Feature displays of the following books during, and in the days before and after, Community Healing Days 2010, October 15, 16, and 17:
- Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority by Tom Burrell
- A Song Flung Up to Heaven, by Dr. Maya Angelou
- Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem, by bell hooks
- Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, by Dr. Joy DeGruy
- The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison,
- Lay My Burden Down, by Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D. and Amy Alexander.
- What Mama Couldn’t Tell Us About Love: Healing the Emotional Legacy of Racism By Celebrating Our Light, Brenda Lane Richardson and Brenda Wade
- Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting, Terrie M.Williams
Business Community
Review policies and practices. Review your business policies and practices to see if, and to what extent, they are influenced by and/ or promote the myth of Black inferiority and develop a comprehensive plan for remedial action.
Grants. Provide grant support to organizations working to overcome the myth of Black inferiority.
Media
Special coverage. Run a feature story on the growing movement for emotional emancipation for Black people.
Commission op-eds. Set aside a space during Community Healing Days to publish opinion pieces on the movement to overcome the myth of Black inferiority.
|
Thank you for committing to Wear Sky Blue on Community Healing Days, October 15, 16, and 17. Your participation will bring greater visibility to the movement for emotional emancipation for Black people and bring us together in a simple, but powerful and beautiful, act of solidarity over the course of three days to focus us on the struggle for our emotional freedom.