Healing the Heart of Humanity

By Mutima Imani

My work has mostly been focused on celebrating diversity and healing the wounds of racism. Let us change the world (we can do it together), we can touch the sky (thank you for helping), you’re the chosen one (knowing that you are out there is a sign of the changing times).

Being alive right now, I feel the call and the need to be a voice of reason with fierce compassion and deep empathetic listening. I just finished a series of healing circles for the hate crimes on a University campus, where the students were divided into three separate groups. Those who were in pain and suffering from the display of hate paraphernalia, those who could feel the pain of their suffering classmates, and those who were saying get over it, it’s no big deal, stop being crybabies.

I find myself longing for companionship and support from Peace Ambassadors who can and are willing to stand together for social justice issues and climate change issues. It is urgent to speak truth to power to learn a new language and a new way of being.

I loved teachable moments and I don't find it a burden to explain to people why what they just said was offensive and what and how they can rephrase and restate what they are trying to say so that they can begin to relate in a more conscious way. I gladly responded when people say to me, “I don't see color.” I say, “I must be invisible to you because I'm standing in front of you proud of the darkness of my skin, loving my blackness.”

One of my favorite things to do is to stand in front of a crowd of people and ask them to say black is beautiful. I believe because of the way that blackness has and is being betrayed that our subconscious mind for centuries associated the word with negativity and evil. Saying black is beautiful is a “tipping point” healing concept that will erase centuries of negativity towards people who have dark skin, and the fear of the feminine womb, which is considered a black hole. It is a scientific fact that without the primary color black there would be no other colors. So this simple and profound concept, understood properly, would erase centuries of erroneous thinking and correct and heal the heart of humanity.

Healing the heart of humanity is the title of one of my signature lectures, keynote addresses, and workshops. To say black is beautiful is the beginning of erasing the collective race-conscious wounds of the old lies that say Africans are three-quarters of a person, unworthy of being treated equally with dignity and pride, and that whites are superior. This made-up concept called “race” is the collective wound that is causing so much suffering and pain.

I say black is beautiful and claim your divinity. My dear teacher and friend from Ghana, Brother Ishmael Tetteh, has written a book called The Mission of Jesus Revealed. This short, powerful book says that Jesus died and was killed because he had the audacity to say that being human was divine:” I am the Son of God and you are the children of God.” Claiming our divinity and living our lives from this place of knowing heals the wounds of racism. The affirmation that I often use is “Black is Beautiful and I am a Divine Expression of this thing called Life.” I find that this affirmation can erases the unconscious and conscious feelings of the shame, blame, and guilt caused by the crimes of racial injustices. And it works for everyone who will dare to use it. I challenge you to forgive your ancestors, claim your divinity, and heal racial wounds that keep you from opening your heart to whomever is “the other.”

In Michael Jackson’s song, “Cry,” the lyric says, “You can change the world (I can’t do it by myself)... You can touch the sky (gonna take somebody’s help)... You’re the chosen one (I’m gonna need some kind of sign)... If we all cry at the same time tonight.” Expressing my grief, despair, anger, and fear through tears has saved my life and allowed me to break through the emotional barriers and pitfalls of being a peacekeeper with so much violence all around.

I am inviting you to affirm that Black is Beautiful and to join with me in crying about the wars, hungry children, hate, hate crimes, police brutality, and the miseducation of the colonized mind. Let us change the world by expressing the sadness and sorrow that has our joy and passion on lockdown.

It’s time to celebrate and make a joyful noise (Let us do it together)... Let us touch the sky (thank you for helping to raise the consciousness on the planet)... you’re the chosen one (knowing that you are out there is a sign of the changing times).
 

Mutima Imani is a social justice visionary, master trainer, and facilitator working to heal the heart of humanity by providing 21st-century tools for personal and professional development and transformation. She is a global diversity specialist who understands and inspires people to think locally while planning globally. Highly skilled at bringing diverse groups together to resolve conflicts, Mutima conducts Civic Leadership training and Restorative Justice Circles. She has a master's degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Phenomenology. Mutima is passionate about how all things work together and what humans can learn from the natural world.