Healing the Land through Reparative Acts: Koinonia School 2021-22

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Isabel Wilkerson

Caste

Rather than honor supremacists with statues on pedestals, Germany, after decades of silence and soul-searching, chose to erect memorials to the victims of its aggressions and to the courageous people who resisted the men who inflicted atrocities on human beings.

In Caste, Wilkerson contrasts the meaning attached to the Nazi memorials in Germany and confederate statues in America. Germans maintain a number of Holocaust monuments and concentration camp memorials, but their focus is on remembering and learning from the events.

For 2021-2022, Koinonia will explore efforts in the U.S to suppress the truth of our nation’s past and present wrongs, counter efforts to face them with courage and honesty, and the national campaign to create a culture of repair. Join us to explore how you are being called to act. Koinonia meets monthly on Friday evenings from 7-8:30 pm, with a debriefing session on Saturday mornings from 9-11 am.

Tuition is $250/person which includes the opening retreat ($125) plus $25/month.  The actual cost of the full program which includes guest speakers, retreat facilitation, etc., is estimated to be $500/person and is underwritten by Richmond Hill and a designated Virginia Humanities grant.  Additional financial support is available upon request.  No one will be excluded based on need.

For further information, please contact Rev. Dr. Lisa Johnson, 804-783-7903.

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2022 Program Calendar

February 25: Remembrance & Material Culture: Mending Walls & Re-imagining Monument Ave

Mending Walls aims to establish empathy and connection through art. Created by Hamilton Glass in Spring 2020, in response to the community unrest following the death of George Floyd. Inspired by an eye-opening conversation he had with friend and frequent artistic collaborator Matt Lively, the project paired together 30 artists from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and perspectives to have conversations about their lived experiences and to create 16 murals across the city with the hope their art would ultimately spark deeper conversations within our community and promote healing.

March 18: Housing Inequality in Richmond

Richmond has the second highest eviction rate in the nation. The issues that have led to the high numbers include a mixed real estate market, meaning a hot market in some areas but not others; low minimum wage; lack of laws that support tenants; low investment in affordable housing; and the low cost for landlords filing for an eviction in Virginia. While other states may have one of these issues, the combination of all of these factors has led to Richmond reaching its current state. At the same time, many African Americans and people of color with the means to buy a home, the American dream, face evolving barriers.

Join Koinonia and Housing Opportunities Made Equal and learn what is being done to address these issues and what the Richmond Hill community can do to help.

April 22: Environmental Justice, Food Insecurity & Health in Low-Income Communities

Environmental Justice has been a topic of concern for decades in the United States. Environmental justice is the equal treatment of all communities, regardless of race, gender, income, class, etc., when it comes to environmental decisions. For example, the placement of a landfill should not be determined by the race or income of the people who live in that area. Unfortunately, this is not always upheld, and many hazardous facilities are placed in “lower class” areas. As a result, many impoverished communities suffer the burdens of environmental injustice.

May 20: Multi-Cultural Coalition Building & Communicating Across the Divide

Commenting on the protests spurred by the police murder of George Floyd, sociologist Doug McAdam has remarked that while looking back over his career studying social movements, “We have never seen protests like these before… in the ethnic and racial diversity of those participating. At the same time, in other circles, communicating across racial and other divides remains a challenge.

June 13-18: The Warmth Intensive Writing Workshop

The Warmth is a weeklong, reading and writing intensive for black adults between the ages of 18 and 25. In his autobiography, Richard Wright wonders if “the warmth” of a different climate could provide him with the space he needs to “grow differently,” to “respond” and maybe to “bloom.” Offered by Virginia Commonwealth University critical thinking instructor Nikki Fernandes, the program strives to create a warm, rigorous academic environment for creativity, thinking, and reflection to grow as critical thinkers, communicators, and conduits of healing and change in their respective communities. We welcome thinkers with different levels of writing confidence and proficiency to apply. There is no financial cost; we instead expect enthusiastic engagement and commitment during our week together.

June 18: JUNETEENTH WEEKEND

Tour the Richmond Hill site and view a gallery pictorial history that highlights the story of enslaved Africans on the land and free blacks who labored on the property during the tumultuous Jim Crow era. Peruse and enjoy a variety of clothing, goods, and wares by Africans and African-Americans.