W.K. Kellogg Foundation celebrates sixth annual National Day of Racial Healing

John Legend, Soledad O'Brien, Julissa Calderon among speakers on racial equity and racial healing

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Jan 18, 2022, 08:15 ET

BATTLE CREEK, Mich., Jan. 18, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will host the sixth annual National Day of Racial Healing, a virtual celebration of truth-telling, community and racial healing and a timely call to action for positive, sustainable change, featuring performances and conversations with community leaders, advocates and artists standing in solidarity for racial equity.

"Today we hold important and much-needed conversations to lay the groundwork for racial healing, but we can't stop there," said La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. "The increased awareness of racial inequities that permeate our systems and structures have been compounded by the pandemic and require our urgent action to transform our communities for children and future generations."

Premiering at 3 p.m. EST / 12 p.m. PST, the National Day of Racial Healing serves as a stage for building multi-racial solidarity in order to combat the effects of hate and build greater appreciation for our shared humanity. In-depth discussions and panels will explore how racial healing is a necessary element of achieving racial equity and will examine how we can build a better future by pursuing real solutions and prioritizing positive action to catalyze the process of healing.

The 75-minute virtual event will be hosted by Soledad O'Brien, broadcast journalist & founder of Soledad O'Brien Productions. The program will feature panels and conversations with actress Julissa Calderon, author & activist Heather McGhee, Detroit's Director of Arts and Culture Rochelle Riley, and more. W.K. Kellogg Foundation President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron will talk with Standing Rock Sioux Nation Indigenous scholar Connie Brownotter to kick off the event, which will also include performances by Grammy Award-winning artist John Legend, poet Reyes, Supaman, and the Ndlovu Youth Choir. Closed captions will be available in English, Haitian Creole and Spanish.

To join the event, please visit: www.dayofracialhealing.org, where you will also find helpful resources including Conversation Guides, Action Kits and the Business Case for Racial Equity.

The virtual event opens with a focus on celebrating the next generation of leaders and the importance of including their voices, their ideas and their energy into the racial healing journey.

"It is not the responsibility of one person, one group, or even one organization to drive racial healing. The responsibility belongs to all of us to participate in these honest, powerful and moving experiences, and actively pursue this journey together," said Tabron. "It's important that we entrust and empower our young people to engage with us, and that we make space for youth at the table to invest in racial equity and healing for generations."

This year's event will also recognize work done by grantees in Flint, Michigan, implementing the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) process that is underway in communities across the U.S.

Visit www.dayofracialhealing.org for a view of the more than 70 events taking place around the country including Los Angeles, Calif.; Chicago, Ill.; Columbus, Ohio; Selma, Ala.; Buffalo, N.Y.; Battle Creek, Mich.; Flint, Mich.; Dallas, Texas; Richmond, Va., and more.

To watch the recording, please visit [https://youtu.be/xk7BqnetLMs].

About National Day of Racial Healing
The annual observance of the "National Day of Racial Healing" was created with and builds on the work and learnings of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) community partners. TRHT was established in 2017 to promote racial healing as a critical path for ending racial bias and creating a society in which all children can thrive. It is a national and community-based process designed to bring transformational and sustainable change to communities, while addressing the historic and contemporary effects of racism.

About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal innovator and entrepreneur Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, the Kellogg Foundation works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life.

Based in Battle Creek, Michigan, the Kellogg Foundation works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special attention is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti.

SOURCE W.K. Kellogg Foundation