Racial Healing Circles
KUSANYA: "The Gathering"
The Anti-Racism Commission is offering racial healing circles facilitated by Lailah Dunbar-Keeys intended to gather African Americans from the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania community to discuss the ways in which systemic racism has affected American culture and has consequently impacted their lives.
Racial healing circles provide a safe space for a small group of participants to speak about, listen to, and subsequently heal from stories about race and racism.
This particular racial healing circle is for an African American affinity group. Our intention is to convene a multicultural racial healing circle in the future.
Some of the questions you will be challenged to consider are:
When did you first discover that you were a part of a racial group?
What messages did you learn from your family about your racial group?
What messages did you learn from society (mass media, school, church, etc.) about your racial group?
How did you cope with being seen as the “other”?
Could you share a story about a time when you felt powerful?
For any questions about ARC's racial healing circle series, please email The Rev. Barbara Ballenger ([email protected]), ARC co-chair.
Racial Healing Circle Facilitator
Lailah Dunbar-Keeys, M.S. M.Ed
Lailah Dunbar-Keeys, M.S., M.Ed. is a racial justice and spiritual activist who has dedicated her life and career to establishing the “Beloved Community,” a vision, promoted by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., of a world that is free from all forms of marginalization and oppression.
Her purpose-driven life has afforded her various career opportunities including twenty years as an adjunct assistant professor of sociology at Community College of Philadelphia; adjunct faculty in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University; Assistant Director of Academic Support at Philadelphia University (Jefferson); editor/reporter at the Philadelphia Tribune newspaper; racial justice consultant for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania, various other organizations and churches; and a licensed spiritual life coach.
Most recently, Lailah served as the Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (ODEIB) at Cabrini University where through programs, faculty/staff/student trainings, curriculum integration, and policy changes, she was able to fulfill her purpose to create environments where all people feel seen, heard, and supported.
For more information, contact Lailah Dunbar-Keeys at [email protected], [email protected], or visit www.lailahdunbarkeeys.com.
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