National Day of Racial Healing

We invite everyone to join us for the many events on and in conjuction with the National Day of Racial Healing.

Proclamations Presentation

Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: JIDE Office, University Union 110

Join us as we read proclamations from Illinois Governor Pritzker, Macomb Mayor Inman, and WIU President Mindrup & BOT Chair Stutz recognizing January 21, 2025 as a National Day of Racial Healing at Western Illinois University. There will be giveaways and refreshments.

Download the flyer (pdf)

Healing Circle

Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: Lincoln Room, University Union

Ron Pettigrew, Chaplain and Director of the WIU Veterans Resource Center, will lead an interactive discussion on how we as members of the community (whether urban, rural, domestic, international, middle class, working class, and other) through open and honest dialogue can promote understanding and healing and move forward to create a better society.

Download the flyer (pdf)

Change Our Language, Change Our Politics

Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: Sandburg Theatre, University Union

Guest speaker Ted Williams III, an experienced actor, speaker, facilitator, host, and former candidate for public office will change the way we discuss sensitive subjects and create a better way to show respect and encourage honest dialogue whether discussing politics, religion, race, etc. We can do better and Mr. Williams though a live stage performance will show us how.

Download the flyer (pdf)

Celebrations across the USA

Time: All Day
Location: https://dayofracialhealing.org/

Event Archives

2024 NDORH at WIU (Google Drive).

Vision Statement

WIU’s participation in the National Day of Racial Healing (NDORH) is part of an ongoing commitment to help to create a better community both on and off campus. The NDORH represents one day in the work that we do 365 days of the year.

Joining the NDORH movement helps to provide additional avenues, resources, and opportunities to address the concerns, meet the needs, heal the wounds and create opportunities for success for all.

Additional information on the NDORH can be found at https://dayofracialhealing.org/about-ndorh/

Community Learning Outcomes

Our goal is to promote healing through personal reflect, interactions with others and the development of strategies for cooperation. This involves an exploration of the following dimensions of multicultural consciousness: self (cognitive), thoughts about others (intrapersonal) and ability to work with others (interpersonal).

Cognitive multicultural consciousness is being defined as the complex understanding of cultural differences. An awareness and understanding of the histories and experiences of others. An acceptance of the idea that a difference in values, ways of making meaning, thought, perspective and background does not mean a culture or an individual is lesser or greater than your own.

Intrapersonal multicultural consciousness is being defined as the capacity to accept and not feel threatened by cultural difference. Being comfortable in your interactions with people from cultures and backgrounds that are different than your own. Not feeling the need to avoid, judge, criticize, compare or separate the shared humanity.

Interpersonal multicultural consciousness is being defined as the capacity to function interdependently with diverse cultures. Being able to collaborate, partner, work, and/or socialize to accomplish a task or achieve a goal with individuals from a different culture.

Assessment

After participating in a NDORH activity a participant will be able to report their ability to incorporate either the cognitive, intrapersonal or interpersonal dimension of multicultural consciousness into their personal or professional life. A survey will be administered following each event.

Community Building

As a member of the WIU campus and/or surrounding communities, your support is vital to creating an authentic culture of welcome, support and a sense of belonging. Your individual commitment will help to create a collective impact. Therefore, we ask you to support the rights of all members of our community to enjoy a safe learning, working and living environment.

Healing Circles

What are Healing Circles?

National Library of Medicine

San Francisco State University College of Health & Social Sciences

Healing Circle Participant Guide – San Francisco State University College of Health & Social Sciences (pdf)

Thoughts about Healing

“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity."

- Hippocrates

“Healing begins when we embrace our minds with kindness."

- Unknown

“As soon as the healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else."

- Maya Angelou

“It’s when we start working together that the real healing takes place."

- David Hume

“All you have to do is take a close look at yourself and you will understand everyone else."

- Isaac Asimov

Foundations of Our Participation

Student Creed

We, the students of Western Illinois University, having learned from the past 100 years, reaffirm the values of excellence in higher education as established by our founders.

As a member of this community…I will challenge myself to uphold the highest standards of scholarship and integrity in my learning. I will strive to create understanding, respect, and openness to difference among all members of my community. I will strengthen my community and its members by actively advancing the goals that better Western Illinois University. We recognize these values as evidence of a successful past and as keys to a promising future.

Higher Values in Higher Education 2022-2027 (WIU Strategic Plan) (pdf)

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Racism Western Illinois University has made it a priority to focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Everyone is welcome at Western, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, marital status, national origin, disability, genetic information, LGBTQIA status, and veteran status. Each person matters and deserves a respectful, civil, and supportive living, learning, and working environment.

Western Illinois University fosters respect, equity, and inclusion for all students, faculty, and staff. Western is committed to anti-racism, anti-oppression, equity, social justice, and diversity. We value inclusion as a core value and as an essential element of Western's public service mission.

Western embraces individual uniqueness and a culture of inclusion that supports broad and specific diversity initiatives. Western believes in the educational and institutional benefits of diversity in society as integral to the success of all individuals.

At Western, we will:

Maintain a safe and secure environment for all members of our Western communities;
Educate and empower students, staff, and faculty to be social and environmental justice advocates;
Provide curricula, programs, training, resources, and environments that reflect and strengthen the diversity of our communities in order to elevate cultural awareness and understanding;
Ensure fair, equitable, and inclusive access to University facilities, programs, resources, and services;
Create inclusive and equitable policies and practices;
Diversify the University's workforce by assessing hiring practices to attract, retain, and develop talented staff and faculty from diverse backgrounds;
Address disparities in representation, retention, learning outcomes, and graduation rates;
Create a University-wide diversity plan to ensure a continued commitment to anti-racism, anti-oppression, equity, social justice, and diversity.

Illinois Human Rights Act

It is the public policy of this state:

(A) Freedom from unlawful Discrimination. To secure for all individuals within Illinois the freedom from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, order of protection status, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, or unfavorable discharge from military service in connection with employment, real estate transactions, access to financial credit, and the availability of public accommodations, including in elementary, secondary, and higher education.

(G) Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action. To establish Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action as the policies of this State in all of its decisions, programs and activities, and to and to assure that all State departments, boards, commissions and instrumentalities rigorously take affirmative action to provide equality of opportunity and eliminate the effects of past discrimination in the internal affairs of State government and in their relations with the public.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights – United Nations

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Thoughts about the NDORH

The observance grows each year as people across the country work to create connections and share a sense of belonging. Each year, the National Day of Racial Healing is an opportunity to gather colleagues from within your organization and across sectors to:

Get to know each other.
Cultivate trusting relationships.
Learn about each other’s diverse backgrounds, cultures, perspectives and lived experiences.
Explore the cultures that make up their communities.
Share information on the history or current realities of racism.
Brainstorm ways to take actions that increase empathy, advance racial equity, and build solidarity.

Source: East Carolina University

Here at Washington State University, we intend to leverage the National Day of Racial Healing framework to help us as a university community develop critical and reflexive thinking that directly supports culturally and racially non-harming, compassionate, and ethical practices towards ourselves and towards our collective learning.

Participation in the National Day of Racial Healing is not meant to isolate our efforts to a single day. Rather, it is meant as a catalyst for sustained engagement with racial healing over time, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Source: Washington State University

Racial Healing Resources

Community Building Resources

Libraries

American Library Association (ALA)

https://www.ala.org/advocacy/diversity/libraries-respond/dayofhealing

To honor and observe The National Day of Racial Healing, we encourage you to take part in your own individual reflection and/or provide space within your organization to build community.

View and respond to the links below to engage in meaningful conversations within your community.

Videos

Music (YouTube)

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Western Illinois University

NDORH Reading List

The color of law: a forgotten history of how our government segregated America
by Rothstein, Richard
Malpass Library (E185.61 .R8185 2018)

The warmth of other suns: the epic story of America's great migration
by Wilkerson, Isabel
Malpass Library (E185.6 .W55 2011)

An African American and Latinx history of the United States
by Ortiz, Paul
Malpass Library (E184.S75 O79 2018)

An indigenous peoples' history of the United States
by Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne
Malpass Library (E76.8 .D86 2014)

The new Jim Crow: mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness
by Alexander, Michelle
Malpass Library (HV9950 .A437 2012)

Biased: uncovering the hidden prejudice that shapes what we see, think, and do
by Eberhardt, Jennifer L.
Malpass Library (BF575.P9 E34 2019)

Just mercy: a story of justice and redemption
by Stevenson
WIU Quad Cities Library (KF373.S743 A3 2015)

How to be an antiracist
by Kendi, Ibram X
Malpass Library (E184.A1 K344 2019)

Sister outsider: essays and speeches
by Lorde, Audre
Malpass Library (PS3562.O75 S5 1984)

Black Marxism: the making of the black radical tradition
by Robinson, Cedric J.
Malpass Library (HX436.5 .R63 1983)

Dying of whiteness: how the politics of racial resentment is killing America's heartland
by Metzl, Jonathan
Malpass Library (RA563.M56 M48 2020)

The autobiography of Malcolm X
by X, Malcolm
Malpass Library Popular Reading - 3rd Floor, (PBK M240 au

Their eyes were watching God
by Hurston, Zora Neale
Malpass Library (PS3515.U789 T5 2006)

Fatal invention: how science, politics, and big business re-create race in the twenty-first century
by Roberts, Dorothy E.
Malpass Library (GN269 .R64 2011)

Western Illinois University

Western Illinois University