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Mississippi Museum of Art Celebrates National Day of Racial Healing Through Art and Dialogue

JACKSON, Miss.—Markers, crayons, pencils and construction paper lay on tables inside the Mississippi Museum of Art. As guests trickled inside for the museum’s celebration of National Day of Racial Healing, the prompter at the front of the room displayed questions surrounding safety, power, racial healing and what a non-racist world looks like.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation launched the special day on Jan. 17, 2017, and is observed every year on the Tuesday following Martin Lurther King Jr. Day. It is designed as a time to contemplate shared values and create a blueprint for how to heal from the effects of racism.

The Mississippi Museum of Art’s celebration, “Art and Voice As Healing,” featured food, crafts, and a panel with filmmaker Talameika Brice, writer Kiese Laymon and Black, queer storyteller Aurielle Marie.

Guests ate salad, soup, dinner rolls and cookies while the trio answered questions in the form of drawings with the art supplies on the table. After the meal, Aurielle Marie recited Saidaiya Hartman’s “Wayward Experiments”.

“Art and Voice As Healing” kicked off at the Mississippi Museum of Art on Jan. 18, 2023 in Jackson, Miss., with dinner and activities for guests  to think about and illustrate ideas of safety, power, racial healing and a culture without racism using the crayons, markers and construction paper on each table. Photo courtesy Mississippi Museum of Art

“There is somewhere a Heaven just for Black girls, and wherever it lives the graves are empty there, soft with dew and satisfied by bodies of laughter instead,” Marie recited. “Their oceans return to the shores withhold clusters of us or we ship our mothers love letters and the salt we gather at the feet of magnolia trees. We empty the blessed sun into our thighs and dream. We choose this heaven, one that doesn’t quiet our other selves.”

“… We pray to a God who wants no sacrifice,” she continued. “Only ask that we sound our names the right way. Only asks us to stay awhile, and if we ever leave, keep the door open for a few more girls too. Say it is the

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