Children need equitable communities to learn and grow. They need the adults who shape their life experiences to have strong, effective relationships that lead to innovative approaches in community-building. Racial healing creates the conditions and human relationships needed to achieve racial equity.

Racial healing is both communal and personal. Nearly everyone, regardless of skin color, ethnic background, economic standing or language, can recall a personal story involving race or racism. Racism affects individuals in diverse ways, and it is important that everyone can heal within the context of their personal and racialized experiences. Racial healing can make us stronger individually while strengthening our relationships with the people around us. It is an approach where stories from different backgrounds converge and strangers become friends.

Racial healing is a process that restores individuals and communities to wholeness, repairs the damage caused by racism and transforms societal structures into ones that affirm the inherent value of all people.

This healing process includes self-care, personal reflection and community support, emphasizing the importance of embracing one’s cultural identity and building solidarity both within and across communities. It’s a path of self-discovery and moral clarity. Through racial healing, individuals understand themselves better and recognize their connections to others more deeply. On a collective level, it creates space for community power-building and engagement to foster new visions and collaborate in achieving shared goals. Racial healing repairs us – mind, heart, conscience and connection – so we can pave the path to a bright future for generations to come.

Learn more about one community’s work to achieve racial equity in a region that has long experienced deep economic inequality and racial segregation.