TRHT:
4 Letters,
3 Life-changing
Concepts
I have the honor of being a part of Otterbein’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation team and the work that we began in 2019 is proving to be needed now more than ever before.
Following the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, the nation’s attention became focused on the need for social justice and racial healing and reconciliation.
Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) is a process designed to bring about transformational change by addressing the effects of systemic racism through eradicating the conscious and unconscious belief in a “hierarchy of human value,” the reprehensible belief in the inferiority or superiority of persons based on physical characteristics such as race, skin color or place of origin.
The TRHT process begins by grounding our experience in TRUTH. Truth involves the inclusion of narratives and perspectives that have historically been neglected and/or ignored.
The process of racial healing is facilitated through participation in Racial Healing Circles (RHC). RHCs are facilitated group experiences where participants are guided through answering a series of questions that progressively go deeper and more personal. RHCs allow participants to share their personal experiences unfiltered and uninterrupted.
One of the greatest benefits of RHCs is the allowance for participants to engage in deep listening, hearing the stories of people they might not otherwise connect with and have a heart conversation.
RHCs offer ways for us to heal from the traumatic wounds of the past, to build mutually respectful relationships across racial lines and to transform ourselves into the beloved community.
If you are interested in an experience that leads to personal transformation and community engagement, then I invite you to join us and participate in a Racial Healing Circle.
Information about RHCs can be accessed online at otterbein.edu/TRHT. Let the transformation begin!
Passionate about education, Rev. Vaughn Bell serves as the vice president of the Westerville City Schools Board of Education and is the establishing pastor of the Triumphant Church of God in Westerville, OH.
