By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Last Weekend, Black Lives Matter Seattle King County (BLMSKC) and a group of volunteers put together a Black-Led Wellness event in an effort to help the Black community heal from the wounds and the anxiety of just wanting to be free from racial discrimination and police brutality.
The three-day event, held from Friday through Sunday, at both Seattle Central College and Judkins Park, featured Free health and wellness resources and services, a curated all-Black healing space, and an event to lift the voices, narratives and contributions of Black queer and trans folks.
The mood at the Seattle Central site was festive and optimistic as workers prepared their stations for attendees. The site centered around medical assistance and COVID-19 resources as well as family resources such as housing and employment opportunities.
The King County Health department was there providing information on COVID-19 testing sites throughout the region, while Mary’s Place — an organization that provides basic needs for struggling families, women and children — shared information about services directed to those in need like housing, employment services and financial needs.
“The background for the weekend is to provide services for the community in a bunch of different aspects,” says Ralph Williams, coordinator for the Seattle Central College site. “Be it health, some of aspects of temporary housing, King County is here with some services regarding health, but community health is the primary focus of this weekends events.”
At Judkins park, community activist came together to provide a safe environment where Black people and people of color could gather and heal without the chaos of political awareness. Some Black people, although they are appreciative of the support from the community and country as a whole, found it disturbing how the narrative of Black Lives Matter changed due to outside influences and wanted to provide the Black community with a venue to come together and begin the healing process on their own without those outside influence.
The national protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd provided the Black community with an opportunity to produce change, yet some of the chaos of the protest overshadowed the protest’s true intentions and nature, according to participants in the events.
“This is an interesting story, Black people’s intentions to bring awareness to our issues were overshadowed by media influence and outside narratives,” said Mary Williams, site coordinator at Judkins Park. “As I was walking in the protest over the killing of Black people, so many of them, I noticed there were not very many Black people at the protest and I wanted to see more of that.”
“I thought if we’re transitioning as a society into a place where we really value Black lives, then can we value Black lives enough to let them exist in a public space without interference and can we center on healing as a part of the holistic process of change that needs to happen,” added Williams.
Throughout the day these organizations offered an array of options towards healing for the African American community, through pathways such as spiritual practices like meditation and group therapy, holistic practices and as previously mentioned other vital resources temporary housing, employment and COVID-19 information, to help maintain the health and well being of the community.
Overall, the events were successful and provided the African American community with a wellness triage – a place where they can go to heal during these trying times.
