creating community, healing, and justice

In the journey to dismantle structures of white supremacy there must be attention paid to community rebuilding and healing. Trauma from racism has negatively impacted Black and Brown people, and it will remain in our communities and bodies – even passed to next generations – unless there is a collective and intentional effort to build healing and repair into the structure of our communities and systems. Authors in this section emphasize compassionate connection, celebration of Black and Brown culture, uplift, and self-love, and also articulate the characteristics of a movement to cultivate growth and flourishing.

Discussion Questions

Read through the following questions and answer them based off what you learned from the readings:

1. Oscar Contreras Telón emphasizes that one way to foster healing is to create connections across cultures through the provision of spaces for sharing, joy, and healing. Do such cross-culture healing spaces exist in your community? What characteristics would you want in these spaces?

2. Dr. Ram Bhagat proposes that white people build positive allyship with people of color. In your own words, what does it mean to be an ally in this context? What would it look like for organizations or institutions to model positive allyship?

3. Angela Patton and Ashley Mejias examine different dimensions of racialized trauma in their essays and note that part of healing comes from valuing Black lives instead of silencing and sentencing them. What are 1-2 ways that you can actively value Black lives in your personal life, your work, in your community?

Exercises

The presence and success of Black women and girl organizations and businesses are central to healing, and supporting them can be a form of allyship. Do you know what and where these organizations are in your city? To start, find a list of the Black female-owned businesses in your city. Find ways to leverage various aspects of personal power — financial capital, social capital — to invest in, partner with, develop, and buy from Black female-owned businesses.

Learn more about racialized trauma - Black body, white body, police body, and communal body trauma – through the short free e-course offered through Cultural Somatics Institute.

Are there organizations or efforts in your community supporting alternatives to the prison system? Helping folks within the prison system or providing support for those who are recently released? Find 1-2 doing such work, learn about their efforts and find ways to support their work.

Additional Resources

SisterFund

UJIMA Legacy Fund
Maria Paz Gutierrez, NPR (April 11, 2018)

Schooled: High school students share their challenges as young black girls in the classroom

Laura Ingles (July 17, 2018)

Black Girls Matter

African American Policy Reform

More families are staying in Richmond, but the school system still only enrolls 73 kids for every 100 born here

Ned Oliver, Richmond Times-Dispatch (March 10, 2018)

Finding Her Voice: How Black Girls in White Spaces Can Speak Up and Live Their Truth

Faye Z. Belgrave Ph.D, Ivy Belgrave, and Angela Patton (September 1, 2021)

The Prison Paradox: More Incarceration Will Not Make Us Safer

Don Stemen, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Loyola University Chicago (July 2017)

Why you can’t blame mass incarceration on the war on drugs

German Lopez (May 30, 2017)

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Introduction

Message from the Authors

The Richmond Racial Equity Essays launched in 2021 with the goal of promoting thought leadership and public dialogue toward advancing racial equity in Richmond, Virginia, but also as a multi-media model for other cities grappling...

Section I

Introduction

Planning for Inclusive Communities

Urban planning concerns itself with the design and uses of space (or land) that focus on the physical form, economic functions, and social impacts of the built and natural environments in cities, towns and places in our communities. Although...

Section II

Introduction

Section III

Building Sustainable and Affordable Housing

Housing is a basic need around which our health and stability is built, our neighborhoods are centered and housing (through homeownership) is a cornerstone for wealth building. Thus access to...

Section III

Ensuring Education Equity
The quality of one’s education has a significant impact on both their access to opportunity and life outcomes. Yet, many Black and Brown children lack the access to a quality education within....

Section IV

Section III

Section IV

Advancing Economic Empowerment

The link between capitalism and systemic racism has been with us even before the founding of the United States, as using people for profit is one of our country’s original sins. The compounding...

Section V

Section III

Section IV

Shifting Power and Reimagining Partnerships

Central among our ongoing reckoning with racial justice is the question of how power is shifted and shared through partnerships. Historically marginalized communities...

Section VI

Section VIII

Section VII

Lifting Up Latino Leadership and Language Access

Latinos will soon be a majority in many cities across the U.S., yet the numbers of Latino leaders continue to lag across sectors as compared with other groups. This inequitable distribution of power...

Section VII

Section VIII

Section VII

Creating Community, Healing, and Justice

In the journey to dismantle structures of white supremacy there must be attention paid to community rebuilding and healing. Trauma from racism has negatively impacted Black and Brown people, and...

Section VIII

Building a Healthy Environment

Most U.S. localities are legally tasked to make decisions that protect the health, safety and general welfare of its inhabitants. While environmental health should be provided for all populations, communities...

Section IX

Section VIII

Summary

Thank you for reading, watching, and listening to the content from the Richmond Racial Equity Essays. We hope this guide helped you delve deeper into the material and furthered your learning and...

creating community, healing, and justice

Featured Essays and Media

Discussion Questions

Read through the following questions and answer them based off what you learned from the readings:

Exercises

Examples

Commonground

A New Way of Life

Massive Resilience — Dr. Ram Bhagat

Common Justice

KOINONIA School of Race & Social Justice – Richmond Hill

BLKRVA

Girls For A Change

Additional Resources

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Introduction

Introduction

Introduction

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Introduction

Introduction

Section II

Introduction

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Section IV

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Section IV

Section V

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Section VI

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Section VII

Section VII

Section VIII

Section VII

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