Welcome to the Underground Railroad Church a historic name expressing and preserving the ‘invisible church’ gatherings of our enslaved Ancestors.
The Underground Railroad Church (URC) is a church that’s not a church; it is a flexible and fluid ‘Healing Circle’ without walls or boundaries. URC is a fellowship of healers who meet ‘Circle-Up’ in various locations in an ongoing movement toward deep process spiritual insight and inner healing.
The historic Underground Railroad was more than just a destined path of external freedom for our enslaved Ancestors; the traveling process was also a 'soul-journey' of inner development of character, overcoming tremendous ‘fear’ and dependency; healing the wounds of severe trauma and emotional distress.
As passengers on the Underground Railroad our Ancestors had to pray on the run, pray in hiding, pray in silent, but they had to keep on moving because as they said “Aint no rest for the weary.” URC understands the emotional distress of racism is an enduring critical issue of 'Post-Traumatic Slavery Disorder' that has negatively impacted Blacks from past to present.
To address the significant negative impact of emotional distress on Blacks health, the Community Healing Network in collaboration with the Association of Black Psychologists (ABP) initiated Emotional Emancipation Circles (EEC) where Black people can gather in circles to share our stories, to deepen our understanding of the impact of history and racism on our emotional lives, and to learn essential emotional wellness skills for healing.
Community Healing Network on why Emotional Emancipation Circles are necessary:
“For nearly 400 years, we have been fed toxic lies about our history, worth, and value as people of African ancestry. These lies are all rooted in one big lie: the lie of Black inferiority. That lie was devised to justify the enslavement, colonization, and subjugation of African people in the United States and around the world. The lie of Black inferiority has led to the dehumanization of Black people and the devaluing of Black lives. It contributes to Black-White mental and physical health disparities, the criminalization, mass incarceration, and wanton killing of Black people, and many of the other problems we face. In order to address these and other challenges, we must free ourselves, our children, and the world from the lie of Black inferiority.”
“CHN’s aim is to engage a critical mass of Black people in the United States in the movement for emotional emancipation by 2019, the year that will mark the 400th anniversary of the forced arrival of Africans in Jamestown colony so that we will see ourselves in a whole new light by the year 2020.”
Indeed Emotional Emancipation Circles are necessary because they foster positive emotional development based on Community Healing Network’s values of:
*Love: We are animated by love for ourselves, love for each other, and love for Black people.
*Hope: We know that our vision will be realized because we are the descendants of the people who made “a way out of no way.”
*Respect: We acknowledge the dignity of all people, especially the people we serve.
*Integrity: We will be the change we seek.
*Self-reliance: A spirit of self-reliance guides us in all we do and will ensure our victory.
There is significant research found in studies on the relationship between positive emotions and resilience. Studies show that maintaining positive emotions whilst facing adversity promote flexibility in thinking and problem solving.
Positive emotions serve an important function in their ability to help an individual recover from stressful experiences and sickness. Fostering Black positive emotions aids in counteracting the psycho-physiological effects of negative emotional distress of racial oppression. It also facilitates creative adaptive coping, it builds enduring social resources; it increases self-esteem and personal well-being.
The Underground Railroad Church advocates for the development of Emotional Emancipation Circles as a necessary grassroots self-determination initiative of ‘Internal Reparations’, where we as Black people can come together in our homes, centers, Churches, etc. for emotional release, repairs, and resiliency.