MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACT:
Lon Walls
ENOLA AIRD, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY HEALING NETWORK, TO PRESENT TESTIMONY
BEFORE CALIFORNIA TASK FORCE TO STUDY & DEVELOP REPARATION PROPOSALS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS
New Haven, CT (January 27, 2022) -- On Friday, January 28, Enola Aird, Esq., President and Founder of the Community Healing Network (CHN), will virtually present testimony before a task force created by the California State Assembly to “Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans.” The Task Force, established as part of California State Assembly Bill No. 3121, charges the California Department of Justice with providing administrative, technical and legal assistance to support the Task Force efforts.
On behalf of Community Healing Network, Ms. Aird will emphasize the importance of confronting the root cause of anti-Black racism: the centuries-old lie that Black people are inferior and discuss the emotional damage the lie has wrought upon the African American community. She will also address the range of strategies CHN has developed and employed to build the global movement for freedom from the lie.
Finally, Ms. Aird will provide the Task Force with suggestions and approaches that could be included in the state of California’s reparation proposals. Dr. Theopia Jackson and Dr. Kristee Haggins, members of the Association of Black Psychologists, CHN’s primary ally in the movement for emotional emancipation, will also be testifying.
The link for viewing the testimony is provided here:
California Assembly Bill 3121 (AB 3121) was enacted on September 30, 2020 to study and offer recommendations with regard to the issue of reparations.
According to the California Department of Justice: “The institution of slavery is inextricably woven into the establishment, history, and prosperity of the United States. Constitutionally and statutorily sanctioned from 1619 to 1865, slavery deprived more than four million Africans and their descendants of life, liberty, citizenship, cultural heritage, and economic opportunity. Following the abolition of slavery, government entities at the federal, state, and local levels continued to perpetuate, condone, and often profit from the practices that brutalized African Americans and excluded them from meaningful participation in society. This legacy of slavery and racial discrimination has resulted in debilitating economic, educational, and health hardships that are uniquely experienced by African Americans.
“AB 3121 charges the Reparations Task Force with studying the institution of slavery and its lingering negative effects on living African Americans, including descendants of persons enslaved in the United States and on society.
Additionally, the Task Force will recommend appropriate remedies of compensation, rehabilitation, and restitution for African Americans, with special consideration for descendants of persons enslaved in the United States. By statute, the Task Force will issue a report to the Legislature by June 1, 2022, which will be available to the public.”
Comments Ms. Aird, “I am grateful for this opportunity to testify on such a critical issue for African Americans in California and the rest of the nation. Given the strong movement today by some to simply ‘erase’ any and all recorded documentation of enslavement, racism and abuse from America’s history books, we must work even harder to never forget. And we must appropriately address the horrific results of the lie of Black inferiority.”
Ms. Aird is scheduled to present her virtual testimony at approximately 10:05 p.m., Pacific Time, 1:05 pm EST. Members of the public will be allowed 3 minutes each (and/or the opportunity to write into the chat) to share their points of view. Below is the link for more information on how the public can comment: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/tf-meeting-notice-agenda.pdf
Established in 2006, Community Healing Network (CHN) is a not-for-profit organization based in New Haven, CT. Since CHN was launched, its primary mission has been to actively address the psychological damage that people of African ancestry have suffered because of the centuries-old “lie” that Black people are inferior. CHN, in collaboration with the Association of Black Psychologists, is leading a global movement to train thousands of Emotional Emancipation (EE) Circle support group leaders across the Diaspora to heal the wounds of racism and create a new culture of emotional healing, wellness and empowerment in Black communities. For more information, go to https://www.communityhealingnet.org.
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