Lucretia Berry • January 16, 2025
Tuesday, January 21, 2025, marks the annual observance of the National Day of Racial Healing, a time dedicated to reflecting on the past, embracing the present, and envisioning a future grounded in understanding, justice, and belonging. As someone dedicated to fostering racial literacy and building cultural competency, this day holds profound significance for me. It’s an opportunity to amplify the urgent need for healing—within ourselves, our relationships, and in the very systems and structures that shape our lives.
Racial healing is the process of restoring and nurturing human connections across racial and cultural divides. It’s an intentional journey of acknowledging historical and present injustices, fostering empathy, and cultivating practices that repair harm. Healing is both deeply personal and profoundly communal, requiring courage, compassion, and a commitment to continuous growth. It’s not about forgetting the past but understanding it so we can forge a healthier path forward.
The National Day of Racial Healing was launched in 2017 by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It is observed annually on the Tuesday following Martin Luther King Jr. Day, offering a time to reflect on our shared values and collaboratively create a blueprint for healing from the effects of racism. The 2025 theme, “How We Heal,” encourages individuals and communities to explore transformative ways to foster healing and justice across differences. Fundamental to this day is a clear understanding that racial healing is at the core of racial equity. Achieving racial equity requires both systems transformation and racial healing, which together build trust among people and restore communities, enabling them to work collaboratively to affirm the inherent value of all individuals.
For me, racial healing is more than a professional endeavor—it’s a deeply personal journey. Growing up, I found solace and strength in a historically Black community that affirmed my racial identity. Yet, as I navigated spaces of greater racial diversity, I began to grapple with the ways racism had shaped my perceptions of self and others. Through education, introspection, and prayer, I came to understand that I was not only called to transformation but to help lead it.
This journey inspired me to create Brownicity and the flagship course, What LIES Between Us: Fostering First Steps Toward Racial Healing. This course is designed to empower participants to unpack the lies that underpin systemic racism and take courageous steps toward healing. Through accessible, research-informed lessons, it invites people to confront their conditioning, embrace vulnerability, and co-create pathways to liberation.
Stories of Healing in Action
As 2025 begins, two concurrent What LIES Between Us courses embody the spirit of the National Day of Racial Healing, each fostering connections and growth in unique contexts.
In Johnston, Iowa, The Bridge church is hosting a class called “Promoting Racial Understanding” as part of their “Bridges to Others” initiative. This predominantly white congregation has embraced the challenge of becoming more diverse and inclusive, aligning with their mission to be “Bridges to God, Self, and Others.” Pastors have spent months teaching a series called “Bridge Inspections,” laying the groundwork for members to engage deeply in the What LIES Between Us course. Participants are exploring the construction and maintenance of racism in America while learning to build relational and systemic bridges that reflect the diversity of their surrounding community.
The Bridge’s commitment extends beyond the classroom. The church is actively involved in addressing housing and food insecurities and hosts the Iowa Congolese Organization and Center for Healing. Members tutor and mentor elementary-aged children, many of whom are navigating the challenges of learning English as a second language. This context provides a powerful backdrop for conversations about racial healing, as participants learn to connect the dots between faith, justice, and community impact.
Meanwhile, in Davidson, North Carolina, What LIES Between Us is being facilitated in collaboration with Unity in Community North Meck. Held at Davidson United Methodist Church, the course has drawn visionaries from diverse backgrounds who are committed to the call to reduce fear, embrace diversity, and nurture hope.
The synchronicity of these courses occurring in two different cities, each with its own unique dynamics, underscores the universality of the need for racial healing. Whether in the suburban Midwest or the diverse South, people are yearning to connect across constructed divides, to understand and be understood, and to contribute to a more just world.
Becoming Bridges
The National Day of Racial Healing invites us all to pause and ask: What role can I play in fostering understanding and connection? How can I contribute to dismantling the systems of inequity that harm us all? The answers will look different for each of us, but the commitment to act is what matters most.
For those looking to take their first steps, What LIES Between Us offers a roadmap. It’s not just a course but a transformative journey—a chance to learn, reflect, and grow in community. As these two courses demonstrate, healing can happen anywhere people are willing to engage with humility, honesty, and hope.
On this National Day of Racial Healing, I invite you to join this movement. Attend an event or simply take time to reflect on how race and racism have shaped your own life and the lives of those around you. If you’re ready to ‘learn to swim’ before ‘diving into the deep,‘ consider joining or hosting a What LIES Between Us course. Together, we can begin to dismantle divides and become bridges to shared humanity.
Racial healing is a journey — one that requires all of us to consistently show up, evolve, and stay the course. As we step into 2025, let’s commit to healing together, knowing that our collective strength lies in our ability to embrace our many hues as one humanity.
Lucretia Carter Berry, PhD, is a distinguished author, educator, and speaker, as well as the visionary founder of Brownicity, a nonprofit dedicated to fostering education designed to inspire a culture of true belonging and justice for all. Sharing her insights and wisdom on topics of faith, resilience, and personal growth, Lucretia also served as a valued contributor to incourage.me. Through her books, Teaching for Justice and Belonging – A Journey for Educators and Parents (2022), Hues of You – An Activity Book for Learning About the Skin You Are In (2022), and What LIES Between Us – Fostering First Steps Toward Racial Healing (2016), her impactful TED Talk, and her commitment to building just communities, Lucretia encourages meaningful engagement that transcends boundaries, fostering personal development, resilience, and the transformative capacity within each of us.
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