The Arkansas Peace & Justice Memorial Movement (APJMM) is sponsoring the “2021 National Day of Racial Healing in the State of Arkansas,” which includes a statewide week-long schedule of virtual racial awareness events. The State of Arkansas will observe the fifth annual National Day of Racial Healing (NDORH) on Jan. 19, the Tuesday after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
This will be the second consecutive year that this day has been observed by communities throughout the state.
“The racial history of Arkansas and our country, so desperately need more days that focus on truth telling, restorative justice, and programs that promote healing and positive transformation,” says Clarice Abdul-Bey, Co-Convener at the Arkansas Peace & Justice Memorial Movement.
As part of last year’s inaugural observance, Governor Asa Hutchinson became the first Governor to issue a gubernatorial NDORH proclamation, which was immediately followed by proclamations issued by Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde and the mayors of Cammack Village, North Little Rock, and Wrightsville, as well as Little Rock School Superintendent Mike Poore.
A host of virtual events from the week of Jan. 18 through Jan. 24 have been scheduled to share truth, deepen relationships, and build trust in order to create courageous environments where citizens can have difficult conversations about race. Once these conversations begin, access to continuing tools and resources will be provided to the participants with the expectation that they put into action what they have learned from those conversations, and work together to build a more just and equitable world anchored in truth, racial healing, and transformation.
A schedule, event descriptions, and registration links can be found here.
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