Disrupting Trauma, Embracing Collective Care

When We Walk Together, Trust Defies The Storm, Take A Knee, 2018, Triptych of three 12” x 18” panels made with cotton fabric and thread.

"When We Walk Together", "Trust Defies The Storm", "Take A Knee" - These three complementary works by collage and fiber artist Connie Cagampang Heller explore race, being, domination, and the possibilities for the powers of community to hold the keys for our collective liberation. Listen to an audio interview with Connie.

Many called the 2020 summer uprising a time of racial reckoning. Three years later, we are still reckoning. We are facing not only police brutality but also vigilante murders reminiscent of lynchings. We must disrupt the trauma with moments of joy, possibility, hope, and love. Love for ourselves, our communities, our ancestors, our descendants. We invite you to join us in anchoring ourselves in healing justice.

Erica Woodland stands in a forested setting and explains what healing justice is and how it's connected to collective liberation.

What is Healing Justice?

Cara Page and Erica Woodard establish foundational contexts and principles for understanding Healing Justice as a political framework for collective liberation. Watch now.

Spoken word poets perform

Be Safe, Make It Home

Collective Vérité spoken word artists DeJuan Bland and Brittney Charisse share their expressions of the hopes and paradoxes of Black survival, safety, security and dreamcasting that occupy Black minds and bodies. Watch now and view the full poem.

Let's Journey Together

A community that deepens your analysis on race, power, and democracy.
And makes space for your joyful imaginations.

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Explainers

Breaking down big ideas about race, power, and democracy. View all explainers

Education: Democracy’s Battleground?

James E. Ford, PhD, Executive Director of The Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), offers a framework to understand schools and education as historically contested sites to determine the viabilities of true multiracial democracy in the United States. Watch now.

A person wearing a gray turtleneck shift with their arms outstretched sitting in a chair facing the camera.

What is Collective Power and How Do We Build It? An Explainer with Maurice Mitchell

Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell explains the vitality of collective power. Watch now and view transcript

Our Journeys

Stories of our journeys through life and organizing. View all journeys

A person with their arms crossed wearing a plaid shirt and glasses in front of images of women's faces.

Finding Purpose and Power Where Darkness Lives: Cheryl Wilkins' Journey Through Incarceration

Cheryl Wilkins, co-founder and co-director at Columbia University’s Center for Justice, talks about her experience as a queer woman inside prison and "walking up" to the systemic reasons for incarceration. Watch now and view transcript

A person with long hair and a black shirt with a flower sitting in a chair facing the camera.

Courage is Contagious: Alejandra Gomez’s Organizing Journey

Alejandra Gomez, Executive Director of Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), speaks about how the courage to exercise one’s voice against injustice can encourage others to enact theirs around a shared purpose, which over time can catalyze movement-building momentum that sustains for the long run. Watch now and view transcript

Community Conversations

A variety of voices gathered in conversation in living rooms and around the kitchen table. View all community conversations

Healing Justice Lineages

A community conversation with Cara Page and Erica Woodland, the authors of Healing Justice Lineages. In this virtual event, we’ll explore what it means tomove beyond Western norms to reclaim traditional means of healing and collective care as acts of resistance and strategies for building power in our movements today. Watch full conversation now.

One seated person looking at a second seated person talking with hand gestures

How Government Can Deliver Lasting Racial Justice Wins

Members of Race Forward’s Government Alliance on Race and Equity (G.A.R.E.) discuss participatory democracy and co-governance: how structures of government are strategically necessary for translating power-building momentums into public policies. Watch now and view transcript

From our Partners

Colorlines is part of a broader vibrant racial justice community. We are excited to highlight this work from our partners.

Momentum at the White House: Historic Racial Justice Work At The Federal Level With Chiraag Bains

On this landmark episode of Momentum Chiraag Bains, (now former) Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council for Racial Justice and Equity joins Race Forward’s Cathy Albisa and Carlton Eley to talk about the historic racial justice work actively happening across the federal government.