Great news for everyone connected with, and supporting, the Coming to the Table program. The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University recently announced that the Fetzer Institute and the Kellogg Foundation have collaborated to provide $845,000 in funding for three years of activities to develop a model of healing from the legacy of slavery.
Coming to the Table was founded in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s prayer during his speech at the March on Washington in 1963 that ‘the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.'”
The first meeting of descendants of the enslaved and enslavers took place in January 2006. The vision of Coming to the Table is for a healing process that can be utilized by individuals, families, communities, and other organizations and contribute to a national conversation about healing from the historic wounds of slavery that continue to impact people today and to undo present-day systems of injustice and inequity.
Many thanks to Amy Potter, the director of Coming to the Table, for her hard work and dedication. I also thank our entire Coming to the Table family for your commitment to this project. I look forward to our good work together in the future.
NEXT: more on Restorative Justice, victims and offenders meeting together