It is with profound empathy and compassion that we acknowledge the incredible pain our staff and community members are experiencing, most recently as a result of the devastating death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. If you are grieving, angry, anxious, or scared, you are not alone. The protests and public outcry over systemic racism in our country highlight the deep trauma that communities of color carry every day. Black Lives Matter, Black Trauma Matters, and as a behavioral health organization, we are committed to building on our trauma-informed services to more deeply reflect our vision and guiding principles.
Resources and Topics From Our Social Media Channels
Your kids aren’t too young to talk about race! This compilation by Katrina Michie of resources including podcasts, toys, books, and more to help raise race-conscious and anti-racist kids. https://bit.ly/2UaWW7j
Shout out to Jessica with our ABA team for sharing this resource! Do you have a great resource to share with our internet audiences? Email us at communications@upliftfs.org.
Since May 25th, when George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, demonstrators nation-wide have protested institutionalized violence against Black Americans. On June 1st , Uplift’s CEO and President addressed this issue in an all-staff email, concluding with an invitation to respond. Charee Johnson, a clinician in Los Angeles, did just that. Read on at: https://www.pacificclinics.org/lionhearted-a-view-from-within/
Happy Juneteenth! Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of African Americans from slavery in the United States.
Dating back 155 years, Juneteenth is observed on June 19 (the name is a combination of the words “June” and “nineteenth”) because, on that date in 1865, Major General Gordon Granger of the Union Army landed in Galveston, Texas and informed slaves that the Civil War had ended, and slavery had been abolished. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed slaves almost two and a half years earlier, and the American Civil War had largely ended with the defeat of the Confederate States in April 1865, Texas was the most remote of the slave states, with a low presence of Union troops, so enforcement of the proclamation had been slow and inconsistent.
“Juneteenth is a unifying holiday. It is the completion of the celebration of freedom in America,” said Steve Williams, president of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation. This year, the celebration of freedom comes as the country grapples with its long-standing history of systemic racism, as well as the fate of its Confederate monuments, flags and symbols amid nationwide protests against police brutality and racism after the murder of George Floyd by police. Juneteenth is celebrated in a variety of different ways, and we encourage everyone to do the research and commemorate this national holiday.
Linked are resources for the history and celebrations of Juneteenth, the meaning of systemic racism, and a remembrance of George Floyd.
