Racial Healing Circles

The Roundtable introduced Racial Healing Circles (RHC) into the WNY area via an inter-congregational strategy to provide an opportunity for people of different backgrounds to proactively come together in a circle to discuss race and race-related issues. People who engage in Racial Healing Circles are ready to experience the circle process with a focus on racial healing and are interested in learning how to bring racial conversations to their communities.

This work is generously supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Buffalo was asked to join its Truth, Racial Healing, Transformation (TRHT) work, along with a number of other cities around the country. The TRHT framework helps individuals, communities, institutions and professional sectors heal from past and present-day harms of racism and activate change in our communities.

In 2017, the Roundtable participated in the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s first National Day of Racial Healing that is held annually on the Tuesday after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Local events have been held, including interfaith racial healing gatherings, hosting The Color of Law author Richard Rothstein and a virtual event with Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Michael Curry. Exciting details about the guest for the 2023 gathering will be announced in late 2022.

In 2020, the National Federation for Just Communities (NFJC), a longtime partner of the Racial Equity Roundtable, was awarded funding to continue the racial healing circles.

It was important in 2023 to begin expanding the Roundtable’s capacity for racial healing. Thanks to generous ongoing support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Roundtable was able to bring Mee Moua, a nationally sought-after racial healing practitioner, to Buffalo to provide in-depth training for dozens of local racial healing practitioners on facilitating racial healing circles. Racial Healing Circles are an important piece of the Roundtable’s work to expand and deepen personal connections across racial groups.