Alabama Bound!

Thanks to The Church Within A Church Movements’ sponsorship, 11 Black folk are gathering in Alabama, starting in Birmingham, to visit some historical museums and events from specifically the Black experience. We anticipate a time of education, community and healing.

So we will visit the 16th Street Baptist Church, we will cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and visit our very painful history at the Legacy Museum and the Lynching Museum, just to name a few. And because music is the balm of the soul we will have a final dinner at a jazz supper club in Birmingham.

The Movement was in Birmingham October 2018 and visited several of the same monuments and museums. At that time we traveled as a diverse group, though the vast majority who joined us on that trip were white. The trip was educational and heart wrenching. As we processed the pain of our experience what I realized is that I, one of two black people on the trip, was not able to grieve and process because I was busy acting out my internalized racism by making sure all the white people were okay; putting on a brave face so that white people would feel less guilty about the racism that continues to negatively impact our nation, across all ethnicities and race.

I lamented that my healing process was interrupted and hoped to one day see these monumental museums and institutions with an all Black group. That day is here and I am thankful for this opportunity.

We hope to post pictures and reflections from folks in the group. We ask that all of the members and friends of the Movement send well wishes to us for safe travels and a meaningfully healing experience, for all involved.

Trusting the Way,

Vernice