Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Enough. Time to Build: Racial healers are stepping up in Flint, Mich.

Map showing Flint, Mich.
NoDerog/Getty Images

Harwood is president and founder of The Harwood Institute. This is the latest entry in his series based on the "Enough. Time to Build.” campaign, which calls on community leaders and active citizens to step forward and build together.

Flint, Mich., is known nationally for everything that is wrong with it. Water crisis. Persistent poverty. Crime. Lost automotive jobs. Declining population. But I just returned to Flint for a series of “Enough. Time to Build.” campaign events, 25 years after I worked with the community — and there’s a lot right with this town. In fact, Flint is a rising symbol of how America can build together.

I got into Flint late on a Tuesday. Just hours later I was meeting with a group of 15 or so Flint residents who call themselves racial healing practitioners, in advance of a public event the following day. They came from all parts of town. They included Black, Latino and white folks, among others. They were different ages and income levels. In short, they reflected the rich diversity of Flint. They reflected much of America.


It was an especially frigid night, which is saying something given Michigan‘s notorious winters. But people braved the cold and came out. We spent two hours together in folding chairs around plastic tables. We talked about the meaning of their work and how they can deepen and accelerate it. At a time of rampant division, pervasive mistrust and lost hope in our society, what emerged is a story of perseverance, grit, progress and authentic hope.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

One individual, a middle-aged Black man, was particularly vocal. He called Flint’s journey as a community, and more specifically its efforts combating racism, an “ongoing struggle.” His voice rose at times, his frustration palpable. Much more progress is needed, he declared. He’s tired of waiting.

And yet, this man and others in the room spoke of the remarkable progress their shared efforts were producing. They told me about how their racial healing work had catalyzed a chain reaction of actions in Flint that was spreading throughout the community, extending well beyond racial healing.

It begins with their own group. Amid so much loneliness and isolation in our lives, these racial healing practitioners had created a special home for themselves — a place where they could connect and be vulnerable about the difficult issues facing Flint and in their own lives. A noticeable quiet came over the once noisy room as different individuals testified to the bonds of trust they had forged with one another — indeed, the love they had come to share for one another. We all long for such trust, connection and belonging.

They had been trained to hold racial healing circles, bringing people together from across Flint to have hard conversations about race and racism. These aren’t easy conversations anywhere or at any time. There has been much written about how such conversations can blow up, even lead to more acrimony and division. But they said people throughout the community are yearning for these conversations. They keep holding them, and people keep coming. Demand is going up, not down. Something noteworthy is happening in Flint.

I often say that “talk alone” won’t solve the problems we face today. I have come to firmly believe this. We need to build together, and that’s what they are doing in Flint. The conversations they’re holding are rippling into various organizations and institutions, which is prompting concrete action to change how these groups relate to the community and do their work. For years, Flint’s organizations expected residents to change according to their plans; now, organizations are changing to meet residents where they are. This is producing new initiatives and programs at places like the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, Flint Neighborhoods United and the Sloan Museum of Discovery.

I launched our “Enough. Time to Build.” campaign because I believe the change we need in this country is going to come from local communities. These racial healers are demonstrating that behaviors, mindsets and norms can shift, and that healing can occur. This is what we need to see more of across the country.

As the hours passed that evening, I kept looking around the room, and I kept thinking to myself how special that group was. The diversity and different lived experiences. The passion and practicality. The strength and vulnerability. The obstacles and the progress. The frustration and the sense of hope.

So much of our society is wrapped around pushing division, hate, bigotry, despair and winning at any cost. Yet here are the healers. Everyday folks doing remarkable things. They are builders in the truest sense. Creators of something stronger, better, more inclusive. They are agents of hope.

One racial healer already emailed to continue the conversation. There’s more work to do in Flint just like there is across our nation.

Read More

An illustration of diverse people around a heart with the design of the American flag.
An illustration of diverse people around a heart with the design of the American flag.
Getty Images, wildpixel

The Next Hundred Days: America's Latest Test of Democracy

For decades, we have watched America wrestle with its demons. Sometimes, she has successfully pinned them down. Other times, the demons have slipped beyond her grasp. Yet, America has always remained in the ring. There is no difference right now, and the stakes couldn't be higher.

Across America, from small-town council meetings to state legislatures, there's a coordinated effort to roll back the clock on civil rights, geopolitical relations, and the global economy. It's not subtle, and it's not accidental. The targeting of immigrants and citizens of color has become so normalized that we risk becoming numb to it. For example, what happened in Springfield, Ohio, late last year? When national politicians started pushing rhetoric against Haitian immigrants, it wasn't just local politics at play. It was a test balloon, a preview of talking points soon echoed in halls of government and media outlets nationwide. Thus, this is how discrimination, intolerance, and blatant hate go mainstream or viral—it starts small, tests the waters, and spreads like a virus through our body politic and social system.

Keep ReadingShow less
Two groups of people approaching each other over a chasm, ready to shake hands.

Two groups of people approaching each other over a chasm, ready to shake hands.

Getty Images, timsa

The Impact of Trump’s Executive Actions: Efforts To Eliminate DEI

This essay is part of a series by Lawyers Defending American Democracy (LDAD) explaining in practical terms what the new administration’s executive orders and other official actions mean for all of us. Virtually all of these actions spring from the pages of Project 2025, the administration's 900-page blueprint for government action over the next four years. The Project 2025 agenda should concern all of us, as it tracks strategies already implemented in countries such as Hungary to erode democratic norms and adopt authoritarian approaches to governing.

Project 2025’s stated intent to move quickly to “dismantle” the federal government will strip the public of important protections against excessive presidential power and provide big corporations with enormous opportunities to profit by preying on America's households.

Keep ReadingShow less
Future of the National Museum of the American Latino is Uncertain

PRESENTE! A Latino History of the United States

Credit: National Museum of the American Latino

Future of the National Museum of the American Latino is Uncertain

The American Museum of the Latino faces more hurdles after over two decades of advocacy.

Congress passed legislation to allow for the creation of the Museum, along with the American Women’s History Museum, as part of the Smithsonian Institution in an online format. Five years later, new legislation introduced by Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) wants to build a physical museum for both the Latino and women’s museums but might face pushback due to a new executive order signed by President Donald Trump.

Keep ReadingShow less
Fairness, Not Stigma, for Transgender Athletes

People running.

Getty Images, Pavel1964

Fairness, Not Stigma, for Transgender Athletes

President Trump’s campaign and allies spent $21 million of campaign spending on attack ads against transgender people. With that level of spending, I was shocked to find out it was not a top concern for voters of either party, but it continued to prevail as a campaign priority.

Opponents of transgender participation in sports continue to voice their opinions, three months into the Trump presidency. Just last month, the Trump administration suspended $175 million in federal funding to Penn State over a transgender swimmer. $175 million is a bit dramatic over one swimmer, or in the case of the entire NCAA, fewer than 10 athletes. Even Governor Gavin Newsom was recently under fire for sharing his views on his podcast. Others, like Rep. Nancy Mace, have also caught on to the mediagenic nature of transphobia right now. “You want penises in women's bathrooms, and I'm not going to have it,” she said in a U.S. House hearing last month. I had no clue who Nancy Mace was prior to her notorious views on LGBTQ+ rights. Frankly, her flip from being a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights to shouting “Tr**ny” in a hearing seems less like a change of opinion and more of a cry for attention.

Keep ReadingShow less