It was about clearing the way, in the most profound sense, for a renaissance for people of African ancestry around the world.  It was about being in a place intimately associated with the enslavement of our ancestors at a pivotal moment in history to make a spiritual break with the principal source of anguish for us as Black people.

We timed our Global Truth Tour stop in Virginia on August 20-22, 2019, to coincide with the observance of the 400th anniversary of the first recorded forced arrival of Africans in the United States—in Virginia in 1619. Taking the global movement for emotional emancipation to Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, during the 400th anniversary was a key part of the vision that fueled the creation of Community Healing Network. 

From the very beginning, we wanted to bring the spiritual power of the movement to the place in the United States where “founding father” Thomas Jefferson promoted the poisonous lie that Black people are inferior. We wanted to be in that place and at that time to break the power of the lie over Black people and open the door to a future of Black flourishing.

I believe that we did, and I thank God and our ancestors.

In the most fundamental sense, those of us who attended the Summit stopped walking on the centuries-old road constructed for us by others and paved by the lie of Black inferiority. We stepped onto a new road that we are building for ourselves paved by the truth of Black humanity.  

The words I have heard most often from people describing the Summit experience are “transformative” and “transformational.” Transformational means bringing about a major change and transformative means having the power to transform. Those of us who gathered together for a once-in-a-lifetime mass Emotional Emancipation (EE) Circle for three precious days in August of 2019 left Virginia transformed, equipped to share the liberating principles, keys, and tools of the EE Circle process, and armed with a powerful sense of our ability to transform our families and communities. We saw each other with fresh eyes and acknowledged our need for one another. We caught a glimpse of what an African future will look and feel like. And we were commissioned to take all that we learned back into our communities to create that future.

We emerged from Richmond as a part of the critical mass of Black people who will share the resources of the EE Circle process far and wide to make the movement for emotional emancipation unstoppable.  Join us. www.communityhealingnet.org 

By Enola G. Aird
CHN Founder and President