RESTORE | Rest and Breath

Black and Brown bodies have endured legally sanctioned and generations-long abuse—degradation, deprivation, mutilation, systemic and internalized oppression. They have been ripped from their blood relations and kinship circles and been forced to work without pay (at all or adequate), for generations (246 years) on the land named America by its founders.

This has been true from the time they were brought to strange-to-them shores on up to this very day.

According to its 2022 Mapp2Health Report, in what locals call the Blue Ridge Health District (which includes both Charlottesville and Albemarle County), Black median household income is $26,721 less than for White households, with a difference as large as $33,405 in Charlottesville and as small as $16,385 in Nelson County.

In 2023, Black workers [were] more likely than White workers to say that the risk of losing their job is a reason they take less time off than what is offered (21% vs. 13%).

RESTORE | Body

According to a 2020 report from the Pew Research Center, “Black adults {in the U.S.] who have watched… videos [of police violence perpetrated against unarmed black bodies] are the most likely to report negative impacts on their trust in police, sense of safety and mental health.” (63% compared with Hispanic (50%), Asian (46%) and White (40%) adults.)

Charlottesville attorney, Jeffrey Fogel asserted in 2021, “racism permeates the CPD (Charlottesville Police Department). He cites, “on average, seventy five percent (75%) of [“Stops & Frisks”] were African-American, yet stops of white people resulted in a higher percentage of summonses, arrests and seizures of contraband. …At the same time (and continuing to today), 55% of arrests in Charlottesville are of African-Americans who make up only 18% of the population.

Absent of a sense of safety in the physical body across long periods of time, the natural result for anyone (of any race) is a dysregulated nervous system.

Using the above-named statistics as an overlay, imagine 5-Alarm Fire signals blaring and then holding in the background of your awareness for days, weeks, months, years and generations unrelentingly signaling to a part of you, “I am not safe here. My loved ones are not safe here.”

RESTORE | Mind

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Victor Frankl

According to the National Library of Medicine, “African Americans report higher rates of chronic stress compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Consequently, chronic stress contributes to disproportionately higher rates of poor health outcomes among African Americans.”

The 2022 Mapp2Health Report for the Blue Ridge Health District (which includes Charlottesville and Albemarle County) called for “Expand[ed] capacity for racially and culturally responsive behavioral [mental] health care.”

Observers have called The RESTORE Project a kind of “first aid” for its participants that teaches Black and Brown people—with knowing, with dignity, with compassion—how to self-regulate; how to reclaim their power and their freedom.

RESTORE | Mindful Living

In March of 2023, Charlottesville saw “a spike in gun violence… leading to more gun deaths than the city has seen in six years.”

The Black and Brown Experience over generations in America once included regular attendance to community spaces like churches, mosques, community centers, beauty salons and barber shops.

A number of factors (to include the time of Covid-19) have resulted in a notable decline in both the physical presence and number of people gathering in spaces like these.

Globally, the Black and Brown Experience is rooted and held inside intergenerational community spaces where community learning, safety, growth, rites of passage and teaching take place.

These are largely supported by regional proximity, the presence of elders, the presence of in tact kinship circles, commitment to traditions, a deep and shared sense of knowing and belonging.

How many Black-led places in Charlottesville or Albemarle County can you name that are effectively affirming the full existence of Black and Brown bodies while also providing them practical tools for consciously raising children, navigating interpersonal conflict, cultivating mindful relationships (even with adversaries) and whole-being wellbeing: empowered living?

MAIL A CHECK:

Jefferson School African American Heritage Center
233 4th St, NW
Charlottesville, VA 22903

Include “RESTORE” in the memo section

USE A CREDIT CARD:

When you give, be sure to follow up with an email to director@jeffschoolheritagecenter.org, listing your donation amount and including “RESTORE” in the subject line.