BREAKING INTO BEAUTIFUL  

It's Spring and my tulips made a grand entrance on Easter Sunday! Through the cold, the unexpected freeze, my neighbor's dog digging them up and my own ineptness, the brilliant little bulbs sprouted gloriously anyway. I am always amazed when that happens. They broke through in spite of everything.  

Walt Whitman wrote ,“Life breaks into beauty." I hope that’s true and applies to our world issues. I get dizzy with the number of conflicts we have in the US and abroad, most of them old challenges laying dormant in the soil of history, waiting for a little compassionate tending. Daily we embody those conflicts and it can feel like we’re breaking. Our global issues are messy but perhaps necessary for beauty, peace and conciliation to finally happen. If we choose, the break allows trust and goodwill to come in. 

 “Brokenness can be a remarkable gift. If we allow it, it can expand our space to transform!"               ― Michele Harper, The Beauty in Breaking

Tulips taught me this: in spite of what happens and how fragile we feel, we are strong enough to break through beautifully! . Yes, we may falter and fail, but hopefully we break open, try again, and admit that we don’t have all the answers. Our job as humans is to show up with questions. Hmmm, how should we take care of this? How can I help? The answers are waiting for us. When we come together in the mess we can work things out. 

At the table, we break our silence and hold space for the answers. We break old ways of thinking, being and doing so we can build better relationships and ultimately, a better world. It's messy, uncomfortable and beautiful. 

Join us on 3rd Tuesday (4/16/24 - scroll down for details) as we explore ways to heal hearts and minds in Part 2 of our series on Race and Mental Health. Also, come lift a glass with us as we celebrate our 5th Anniversary of nonprofit service! We are still Coming Together, Virginia - facing the past and facilitating the future!

Bringing LOVE to the Fight for EQUALITY,

Danita

3rd TUESDAY DINNER

What The Ancestors Know:

Healing Generational Harm

Tuesday, April 16th

6:00 - 8:30 PM ET

Ginter Park Presbyterian Church

Fellowship Hall

3601 Seminary Avenue, Richmond, VA

Join us for our 3^rd Tuesday Dinner Gathering! Kay Hamlin, local community health specialist and ritualist, will lead a brief panel discussion on racialized oppression and community solutions that work. From a womanist perspective, Hamlin will share her personal and professional journey of connecting wellness to the work of anti-racism. Participants will learn from Kay and the panelists modern rituals that support mental health through culturally rooted wellness practices and the importance of unbodying shame to unlock personal healing.

This is a potluck event where we will provide some basics as the meal foundation. Please bring a nourishing side dish to share and donations of $20 per person are appreciated to help cover costs. No one will be turned away, so please come regardless of whether you can bring a dish or make a donation.

Look for an invitation to register for this event in your inbox soon.

DONATE WHILE YOU SHOP

Movie Circle

ORIGIN

(4th Monday)



Monday, April 29th

    6:30 - 8:00 pm ET

On Zoom

Origin documents Isabelle Wilkerson’s intellectual and emotional journey through the writing of her book, Caste: The Origins of our Discontents. If you haven't yet read the book, this movie will serve as a strong basis for understanding the book in a deeper way.

Ava DuVernay accomplished an incredible feat depicting social hierarchies or caste, and the ways in which they lead to dehumanization, violence, and mass suffering. Yet the film was surprisingly uplifting and motivating to resist the forces of so-called "leaders", ideologies, and -ism's that attempt to divide us. Movie Trailer

For those new to the Movie Circle, we watch the movie in the comfort of our own home or with friends and come together on the 4th Monday of the month to discuss.

Robin Allman & Alistar Harris

Movie Circle Co-Conveners

 Email robinallman54@gmail.com to be receive registration information. Look for an invitation to register for this event in your inbox soon.

Reading For Change

BOOK CIRCLE

(4th Thursday of the month)

Thursday, April 25th

6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET

In-Person

This month our Reading For Change Book Circle is reading, He Calls Me By Lightning: The Life of Caliph Washington and the Forgotten Saga of Jim Crow, Southern Justice, and the Death Penalty by S. Jonathan Bass.

For the month of April only, we are meeting one day early so book circle members can attend the David Blight lecture on Frederick Douglass at the American Civil War Museum in Richmond on Thursday April 26.

This will be an IN-PERSON meeting held at a private home and the location will be provided upon registration. We will also broadcast the meeting on Zoom. You are welcome to participate whether you've completed reading of the book or not.

Doug Steele

RFC Book Circle Convener

Education For Action

Book Circle & Potluck Dinner

(3rd Wednesday)

Wednesday, April 17th

6:00 - 8:00 PM ET

In-Person

Join us for a potluck dinner and conversation as we discuss Richmond and inclusive communities. The Education For Action Book Circle is reading a series of essays found in the Richmond Racial Equity Essays Project. These essays fit in easily with our circle's goal to not only discuss local issues but to offer various actions regarding these issues. 

In an effort to sustain this critical conversation, the Richmond Racial Equity Essays (RREE) 2.0 endeavors to showcase the perspectives and work of activists, educators, researchers, and community leaders who tirelessly strive to dismantle oppressive systems.

This month we are reading the second section of the Richmond Racial Equity Essays Anthology, pages 19-27, Building and Sustaining Affordable Housing. Click the Anthology link above to read this month's essay. Please take a look at the Discussion Guide as well. 

Please e-mail Cheryl Goode to receive the location and with any questions.

Cheryl Goode

EFA Book Circle Convener

CTTT Guided Meditation

April 28th 4:00 - 5:00 pm ET

via Zoom

YOU are invited to participate in this monthly Zoom gathering that focuses on meditation as a tool for healing wounds related to race. These calls are hosted by the Coming to the Table Mindfulness Working Group. We hope you’ll join others in learning to meditate or enhancing your meditation practice. This guided meditation will be facilitated by Venetia Bailey.



Click To Register

THE COST OF INHERITANCE is a PBS documentary that explores the complex issue of reparations in the United States using a thoughtful approach to history, historical injustices, systemic inequities, and the critical dialogue on racial conciliation. Through personal narratives, community inquiries, and scholarly insights, it aims to inspire understanding of the scope and rationale of the reparations debate. The Cost of Inheritance documentary featuring some Coming to the Table members. Click button below to view it.

APRIL COMMUNITY EVENTS

Jonathan Davis, Marketing and Communications Manager