A Message From Our CEO

A King’s Lament

An Act of Love

Happy New Year, fellow changemakers!

Welcome to 2024, another opportunity to grow and sow into a brighter racially healed future! If that sounds a bit like an advertisement, it's meant to. This year, Coming Together Virginia wants to inspire you to be agents of change, give you the knowledge and confidence to speak out and speak UP, elevating our conversations to a place of intentional community action. We, who gather at the table, have experienced how Virginians are better together - more enlightened when we share our stories, travel, break bread and most importantly, plan a better future together.

Next week, we are excited to celebrate the National Day of Racial Healing 2024 with all of Richmond at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. It's the day we commemorate the life of Dr Martin Luther King Jr., a great statesman and icon in the struggle for Civil Rights. We live in his shadow and benefit from his sacrifices, recognizing the giant of a man that he was. But in truth, he was short in stature and came from humble beginnings. He was never the smartest kid in class, nor the handsomest man in the room. He was not particularly brave, and he often agonized over making decisions. Obviously, it wasn't what he was that drove him to become a KING. Rather, he was driven by what he did not want to be. He did not want to be the one that did nothing.

“It is not only the things that we do, but the things we have left undone that haunt us — the letters we did not write, the words we did not speak, the opportunity we did not take.” - Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let 2024 be “the opportunity you take” to move into action. Seek truth, cross borders, heal and grow with new understanding and commit to an action that moves us closer to being MLK’s Beloved Community. This is what love looks like. Start here! Celebrate with us on January 16th at NDRH 2024.

Learn more: https://dayofracialhealing.org/take-action/

See you there, changemakers! - drg

Danita

CT-VA CEO

NATIONAL DAY OF RACIAL HEALING

Join Us For

Together In Harmony:

A Concert for Healing

Through Collective Creativity

Featuring

The Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and Friends

Virginia Museum of History and Culture

Tuesday, January 16th

7:00 - 8:30 PM ET

PSO Musical Director/Conductor: Naima Burrs, M.M.

Coming Together Virginia presents NDRH 2024, An initiative of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Sponsored in part by The Virginia Museum of History and Culture. Please join us for an evening of soul-stirring music, poetry and visual art in observance of The National Day of Racial Healing inspired by the life of Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr. From the Classics to the Motown

sound, experience creative energy, coming together with a message of hope, peace and inclusion.

This co-creative event features performers James "Saxsmo" Gates on saxophone, Weldon Hills on piano, Lisa Edwards-Burrs, soprano vocalist and selected musicians from the Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. The concert promises to be a truly one-of-a-kind experience, and Naima Burrs states that her vision for the evening is "to really celebrate the sacrifices and contributions of those who fought for equality, equity and freedom, while emphasizing the importance of unity and love...I hope that people will...be inspired to really break bread with their neighbors, to find ways to connect with others in a meaningful way!"

Regional Emmy winner, Tyler Layne/CBS 6 News

https:// www.wtvr.com/author/tyler-layne will serve as the evening's host. An online art Auction featuring the work of local artists will be part of the festivities. We invite you to arrive 30 minutes early to preview the works of art that are part of the online auction.

Tickets are $30.00 and proceeds benefit CTVA and their vision of racial healing in the Commonwealth.

MOVIE CIRCLE

(5th Monday of this month)

via Zoom

Monday, January 29th 

6:30 - 8:00 pm ET

Ruby Nell Sales

Ruby Nell Sales is a nationally-recognized human-rights activist, public theologian, and social critic, whose articles and work appear in many journals, online sites, and books. She has been described as a "legendary civil rights activist" by the PBS program Religion and Ethics Weekly and is one of 50 civil rights leaders showcased by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

Sales is the founder and director of the Spirit House Project, and regularly speaks throughout the country about race, class, and reconciliation. Research Ruby Nell Sales and you will find many videos on her life and work. Prepare for an informative discussion about this remarkable woman.

Robin Allman

Movie Circle Convener

We would love to have an African American co-convener join us for our Movie Circle. Email Robin if you are interested in exploring this volunteer role.

Reading For Change

BOOK CIRCLE

(4th Thursday of the month)

Thursday, January 25th

6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET

The Reading for Change book group will discuss “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson. This is the epic story of America’s Great Migration—the movement of 6 million black Americans from the South to the North between 1915 and 1970. It’s the story of what black Americans were willing to endure to achieve the freedom they knew was theirs, but never received, after the Emancipation Proclamation.

We look forward to seeing you and engaging in meaningful dialogue. 

Doug Steele

RFC Book Circle Convener

Education For Action

BOOK CIRCLE

(3rd Thursdays)

Thursday, January 18th

6:00 pm - 8:30 pm ET

In-Person Potluck Dinner & Conversation

The Education for Action book group will discuss “A Civil Rights Reparations Story: The Road to Healing in Prince Edward County, Virginia," by Ken Woodley. This is his first-person account of the steps taken in recent years to redress the wounds from Prince Edward County, Virginia. The county closed its public school system in 1959 during "massive resistance" to the U.S. Supreme Court's historic Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The vast majority of white children continued their education in a private, whites-only academy. But more than 2,000 black students were left without a formal education by the five-year closure. Their lives were forever changed. The book's centerpiece is the 18-month fight to create what legendary civil rights activist Julian Bond told the author would become the first Civil Rights-era reparation in United States history.

Please e-mail Cheryl Goode with any questions.

BE THE CHANGE

There is much work to be done to create the Virginia we want to see.

So, roll up your sleeves and let's get busy!