Black Love Day 2020 Reparations2Heal

BLACK LOVE DAY 2020 REPARATIONS to HEAL THE DIVIDES

For 27 years, my non-profit, African American Holiday Association (AAHA) has stewarded Black Love Day, Feb. 13th.  What is Black Love Day?   Black Love Day (BLD)  is the 3rd nationally, observed African-American holiday (wholyday) of atonement, reconciliation, celebration & 24 hour demonstration of Black Love through 5 tenets (loving acts) - for The Creator, for Self, for the Black Family, the Community & the Black Race.  Whites "show love in action" towards Blacks & work on their own racial attitudes & behaviors.   BLD is a spiritual, cultural alternative to the commercial Valentine's Day.  BLD is co-sponsored by PositivEnergyWorks (P.E.W.)


WHY FUNDS ARE NEEDED FOR THE 27TH BLD, 2020

Since the 1993 birth of BLD, I, Ayo Handy-Kendi, it's founder and steward, with several volunteers, have organized the event's theme, created the public relations materials and social media buzz, spoken on the interviews, organized the Official Black Love Relationship Ceremony and facilitated an On-line BLD Global Convergence to increase peace, stop violence, by healing our relationships.  

I have personally funded this initiative out of my pocket with minimal donations coming in.

In 2018-19, my time, energy, focus and funds have had to go to help my husband, John, heal from prostrate enlargement, which created a blockage in his kidneys, which resulted in him wearing kidney bags, with the imbalance creating cancer in his bladder.  Through wholistic health treatments of herbs, breathology, relaxation for stress management, changing his diet and his emotions, and a supportive urologist and oncologist, we have seen a complete remission of the cancer,  John’s kidney has grown back and the prostrate has shrunk to normal with proper function.  However, expenses for wholistic health is out of pocket and our co-pays on our insurance has piled up, now sitting in a box, as we don't have the funds to pay them.

So, in 2020, as I start this years’ Black Love Day initiative, I am behind in my planning and seriously in need of community support.  Not only am I not in the best position to organize this year’s BLD, the costs to produce it have increased also, creating a greater hardship for me. 

While we have seen the interest in BLD grow, we know this "gofundme" campaign will enable us to organize the BLD events AND expand outreach, promotions and administrative support for this year's on-going activities.   

Our 2020 theme  of "Reparations 2 Repair 2 Reconcile 2 Restore the LOVE" emphasizes the 5th BLD Tenet which is "To Demonstrate Love for the Black Race".   This 5th tenet and it's messaging necessitates the need to expand our outreach efforts  as we believe that great momentum will be generated due to this theme, as more people will seek reparations educational awareness and healing of the divides through our wholistic support.


 

WHAT WILL  FUNDS BE USED FOR: 

GoFundMe donations will be used for the 2020 Black Love Day Reparations Healing Campaign for public relations, social media marketing, outreach and programing/administrative support for  the following activities:

The Global Black Love Day, Feb. 13 Convergence ON-LINE

It offers a  guided visualization facilitated by Ayo Handy-Kendi, the Breath Sekou, founder of BLD with sacred sound by John Davies 3.to implant a collective vision of reconciliation.   We will visualize " so-called Black people" working together in unity by releasing the old conditioning, biases, prejudices, mistrust and in-fighting, that creates disharmony and Black on Black violence and help "so-called White people” change their conditioned responses of superiority/privilege, racism and white supremacy perpetrated  against "so-called Black people".   

We will also visualize the redeemtive  spiritual value of fostering a Reparations mindset and how it can change “the divides”.  What we see, we can create, and this moment of visualization can activate greater harmony, as "the divides are shifted", sub-consciously, which will help stop violence and increase peace, to heal all of our relationships.

The on-line, convergence  will be broadcast LIVE as part of our "BREATHSHOPS ON-LINE" SERIES  on Thursday, Feb. 13th, 2020, Black Love Day  @ 12 Noon - 12:30 p.m. EST. with replays on our website.
 
The Official Black Love Relationship Ceremony, 2020

The Ceremony is held annually on Feb. 13th to serve as the Local,  National and International event  for healing all of our relationships.  In 2020, we demonstrate the 5th Black Love Tenet for the Race with the theme:  "Reparations 2 Repair 2 Reconcile 2 Restore the LOVE’

This is the 2nd year that the official ceremony will be held in Maryland, joining the ranks of the other official ceremonies held in Washington, D.C. (BLD’s birthplace), Saint Louis, Mo, and Richmond Va.  A Capitol Heights Mayoral Proclamation was given last year, to the event, which will be held again at:

      Greater Beulah Baptist Church,
     6056 Central Avenue
      Capitol Heights, Md.  20743
      From 6- 9 p.m.  (EST)   
      FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.  Love Donations Appreciated  

This year’s outreach will include invitations to many African-centered organizations to attend the Ceremony to engage them to take part in the formal induction of a New World African Symbol.  The symbol drive was spearheaded by Councilwoman Elaine Williams of Capitol Heights TownShip, the CHI (Collective Health Initiative), in partnership with Baba Melvin Deal of the African Heritage Dancers and Drummers and it will help us also heal by self-defining ourselves, as we rename ourselves practicing Kujichagulia. (self-determination).

The BLD Ceremony also encourages us to bring our love pains to the “Ritual of Reconciliation”, a signature of Mama Ayo, which offers forgiveness, atonement and the chance to demonstrate the BLD 5 Acts of Love.  Participation furthers helps to restore the love and unity needed to heal our "divided community". 

 We also plan to live-stream the BLD official ceremony to broaden its’ exposure to increase the capability of it being replicated  in more communities, to help reconcile “the divides”.  The Ritual of Reconciliation and demonstration of the 5 Acts of Black Love are meant to serve as African-centered value systems and practices used everyday, long after Black Love Day.



The After BLD Reparations Educational Initiative

While, Black Love Day, Feb. 13 yearly raises consciousness of love’s healing power, we use this momentum to create a year-long initiative around our themes.     We are sure the 2020 message of reparations will cause controversy, so we plan to continue to educate the masses about this issue and encourage “love in action” reparations initiatives. 

 This GoFundMe campaign will bring needed funds into our reparations educational outreach which will push new awareness that this issue can no longer be denied, so that the truth of why reparations is needed, can set us ALL free.   We must have these uncomfortable discussions so we can shift and grow, to heal the divides.   

We believe that the issue of "reparations is a moral and spiritual obligation" to be reckoned with, which will help repair the damage of one of the worst crimes against humanity --over 500 years of slavery; the on-going injustices and terrorism of Jim Crow, segregation and inequality around civil rights.  The Maafa ( the Black African Holocaust) changed the world as millions of Black people were killed, maimed, terrorized, discriminated against, with families torn apart and communities broken, land stolen, countless oppressed and deprived of their identify, economics, education, health and wealth building rights.  These dehumanizing atrocities have impacted generations.  While many today have gained wealth, power advantages and privileges that they did not earn, intense education must be shared to help them stop their denial of the realities that reparations is due to heal the damages done by their Ancestor’s acts, 

This GoFundMe campaign is further seeking FUNDS FOR SEED MONEY  to organize AAHA/PositivEnergyWorks programs entitled, "Breath Circles for Racial/Diversity/Gender Healing". 

We are organizing this solution -based program of diversity training and unique breathology approaches beyond "dialogue" to impact "love in action" results.    We are planning a spring to fall tour to U.S.A. cities and to other countries that need support in healing from race, diversity and gender “divides” fueled by quilt and shame from past atrocities.  

AAHA/P.E.W. understand that you cannot heal, what you don't feel so our "Circles" program initiative, with the break-through effective transformative tools that we offer,  are highly effective to release old programming, un-stick the repressed blockages, and help us move forward with united behavior as allies, in the healing of  relationships.



IN SUMMARY

Overall, our GoFund Me campaign will enable us to:  
1. To fund this year’s BLD;
2. be more effective in delivering this year's BLD Reparations theme;
3. educate widely about BLD/ Reparations solutions to "heal the divides" through reconciliation activities during and after BLD;
4. help “seed” viable solution-based, reconciliation programs, after BLD.

Over the years, I.ve heard from couples, college students, Black and White organizations, about the wonderful  ways in which Black Love Day touched their lives.  Now, all who have benefited and appreciated BLD have a chance to give back, through your love donations.   

With YOUR support, BLD with it’s strong message in 2020 and it’s on-going work can IMPACT EVEN MORE LIVES.   We will greatly appreciate if you could not only support my GoFundMe campaign, by making a generous donation,  and then share our campaign request with your network.  I know that money can be tight, so please know that even $5 helps me get closer to my goal!

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to answer them.

We THANK YOU in advance for your donations and your prayers for the success of these significant efforts. Please partner with us, also, in this new decade to heal all of our relationships, to stop the divides, through love.

With All of my Black Love, with my deepest Breath for your PositivEnergy
 Ayo Handy-Kendi, founder of BLD

CONTACT INFORMATION

For  "Everything You Ever Wanted to know About Black Love Day, Feb. 13" and its'  27th year activities view; http://www.africanamericanholidays.org/blackloveday.html 

For further information on Loves' Healing Power and Breath Circles for Racial, Diversity, Gender Healing  / purchase of the Black Love Book, view:  https://www.positivenergyworks.com/