A Mini-Festival of the Arts, Awareness, Healing & Justice

The Racial Awareness Festival, in it’s fifth year, started because of the ongoing murder of black bodies, mostly black boys and men, in large part by police. The killing continues most recently with the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia by white vigilantes, while Arbery was jogging; Breonna Taylor in her own home by Louisville, Kentucky, police—no words spoken—the police were at the wrong house; George Floyd murdered under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer; and Christian Cooper, smart enough to avoid his plotted murder by police from the call of a lying white woman, followed by current protests and riots at this writing.

This festival is not for those who wish to gather information without an urgent need to change! Americans continue to debate the shape and extent of racism in society. Yet shootings of unarmed African-Americans, disproportional incarceration, poverty rates, neglect, and the disproportionate deaths of African Americans during COVID-19, as well as a continuing list of disparities, remind us, as the Church and as citizens, that the U.S. and the world must continue to press ahead with addressing issues of racism and white supremacy. Politicians are promoting bigoted ideas and organizations. Many whites have watched crisis after crisis unfold and still proclaim, “I don’t see color.”

Because something must be undertaken to raise awareness of the systemic nature of racism and its many effects, we continue this movement to raise awareness and to commit to change. Our long-term goal was to make this annual festival event nationwide. Instead, because of this historical pandemic, we are becoming a virtual event, reaching across our Nation and perhaps globally with activities and plenary sessions designed to share information addressing racial awareness and healing for those who choose to participate.

Racial Awareness and Mindfulness 2020: A Virtual Festival of the Arts, Awareness, Healing, and Justice intends to help people of goodwill reflect on the reality of racism in our society and our world in many forms, through rhythm, blues, keynotes, and practical exposure through experiential workshops with both African-American and white caucuses, as well as multiracial spaces, opening our awareness of privilege and supremacy, and their systemic effects, hopefully opening us for healing centuries of unresolved trauma.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/racial-awareness-and-mindfulness-festival-2020-tickets-107113216514