Racial healing day designated at ECU
Many East Carolina University students, staff and faculty collaborated and interacted together to celebrate National Day of Racial Healing on Jan. 17.
ECU’s event was hosted by the department of health education and promotion’s diversity committee inside the Main Campus Student Center. Togetherness and empathy were main themes.
“The purpose is really just to bring us all together to build connections and build empathy,” said event organizer Tamra Church, an HEP teaching instructor. “For the most part, it’s built around the truth, racial healing and transformation framework out of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. … The event really is about us coming together to celebrate diversity. To really recognize that we can build empathy and build these connections and relationships to be stronger than what they have been.”
WNCT anchor Adrianna Hargrove attended and provided coverage here.
The ECU College of Fine Arts and Communication displayed a banner that emphasized access, belonging, inclusion, diversity and equity. The College of Health and Human Performance was well-represented with multiple tables inside the student center ballroom. The main campus library, College of Education, Pirate Academic Success Center and others were among campus partners in support.
A couple campus staff members walked from table to table in conversation and attentiveness, saying they wanted to simply be attendees this year, but were inspired to host a table next year to further engagement opportunities.
A University Writing Center handout clarified students have the right to their own language and stressed that the education system should strive to eliminate linguistic discrimination.
“They are each doing something a little bit different,” Church said. “Some have writing prompts and just asking, ‘What does race mean to you?’ and starting those conversations that sometimes people don’t have. Others might be sharing their culture or dance or they are a student with the Black Student Union organization.
“At our table, with health education and promotion, we have different books I have read that I felt like were good to have that starting point to really how to do this work.”
National Day of Racing Healing occurs annually the day after Martin Luther King Jr., Day.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation lists a racial healing definition as 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.
“I was so excited to have all of these different groups and organizations to partner with around campus and here to join us to celebrate the National Day of Racial Healing,” Church said.
