December 3, 2023—The 8th Annual National Day of Racial Healing will be observed on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, offering the arts community the opportunity to lead the way with programs and events that help us see not only who we are as a nation, but also the potential of what we can become.
Begun in 2017, the National Day of Racial Healing is observed on the Tuesday following the national holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. The events, hosted by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in conjunction with the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation community, create opportunities for artists to facilitate community engagement, lead discussions, or collectively make art to address the effects of racism and help people heal (#HowWeHeal).
Why do we need a National Day of Racial Healing?
The country is still dealing with the effects of the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and many others whose lives were fatally impacted by racial injustice. This year also has included pivotal swings by the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld the rights of Black voters but outlawed programs impacting college admissions for people of color. There is an ongoing backlash against Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Access programs, as well as a denial of the need to teach accurate histories of Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Asian people. Books are being banned. And the responses to the war in the Middle East continue to reverberate on U.S. college campuses, in corporate boardrooms, and around arts institutions throughout the country; they also have spawned a rash of hate crimes.
When I think about these challenges, I am reminded of comments shared by Robert Redford more than 10 years ago at the National Arts Policy Roundtable. He said: “The country is so wounded, bleeding, and hurt right now. The country needs to be healed—it’s not going to be healed from the top, politically. How are we going to heal? Art is the healing force.”
Participating in the National Day of Racial Healing is an important extension of our mission as leaders of arts and cultural institutions. I urge you to seize this opportunity to continue to promote racial healing and community unity utilizing the arts. There are online resources to help your planning—a conversation guide and the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation community’s guidebook, which can be found at this link.
As always, I want to know what you think. I invite you to share your ideas and plans for using the arts to contribute to your local observations of the National Day of Racial Healing.