Our Reason for Being
The lie of Black inferiority, which was used to justify the enslavement and subjugation of African people starting in the 17th century, is still very much with us. The idea that Black people are not as beautiful, lovable, capable, and worthy as other people continue to undermine our sense of self-worth, the well-being of our families, and our children’s sense of possibilities
. It is a root cause of the Black-White achievement gap, the epidemic of violence among Black youth, the mass incarceration of Black men, women, and children, and many of the other challenges facing Black people. To reverse these negative trends, the Black community must attend to the long-delayed struggle for what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called “psychological freedom,” and what we call “emotional emancipation.”
Our Strategy
CHN is working to build a nationwide grassroots network of self-help groups focused on emotional emancipation and healing for Black people by 2019—the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Africans on American soil--so that, as a people, we will see ourselves in a whole new light by the year 2020. Toward this end, CHN is establishing partnerships with a range of national organizations. We have forged collaborations with The Resolution Project, led by Tom Burrell, author of Brainwashed: Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority, the Association of Black Psychologists, the world’s leading organization of Black psychologists, Symphonic Strategies, Inc., an organization that develops targeted strategies for community mobilization, and the City of Tuskegee, Alabama, the “capital of Black self-reliance,” which has set out to become the nation’s first “community healing model city.”
Our Wear Sky Blue initiative, launched by Dr. Maya Angelou, Chair of CHN’s Board of Advisors, calls on Black people to come together in solidarity to wear the color sky blue during the annual celebration of Community Healing Days (this year: October 15-17, 2021)—to take a stand for emancipation from the lie of Black inferiority—and to show our collective determination to move beyond the pain of the blues to the sky blue of unlimited possibilities. Our Accomplishments and Next Steps
In 2011, people in 138 cities answered Dr. Maya Angelou's call to Wear Sky Blue, up from 70 cities in 2010. We launched community healing circles in New Haven, Connecticut and Portland, Oregon. In 2012, we will continue to build the foundation for a nationwide network of community healing circles—safe spaces where we can come together as Black people to deepen our understanding of the impact of our history on our emotional lives, detoxify our minds and spirits, and tell ourselves a new liberating and empowering story about who we are as individuals and as a community. With our collaborators, we will:
--Develop a Community Healing Curriculum and Training Manual;
--Help local leaders in Tuskegee establish and sustain a city-wide network of neighborhood healing circles;
--Create a training template to help us spread the emotional emancipation movement nationwide;
--Increase the number of people celebrating Community Healing Days;
--Train and equip at least 50 local leaders to establish and sustain neighborhood healing circles; and
--Forge partnerships with five additional national organizations
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