Course brings Truth Racial Healing & Transformation to WMU Students

It is the last day of the Spring 2019 semester at Western Michigan University, and the first-ever Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) course at WMU has just wrapped up the final class.

While some students hurried out of the classroom in Sangren Hall to enjoy the rest of the sunny spring day, Shane Harden, Crea Taylor, and Jazimin Williams hang around, eager to speak about their experience in the TRHT course that semester.

Like many who encounter TRHT for the first time, Taylor did not know exactly what to expect. “’Truth and Healing’ was so mysterious to me,” says Taylor, a junior Graphic Design major from Chicago. “I kept wondering if this is going to be some therapy-type stuff?’”

Despite looming questions, each of the students decided to engage with the unknown and enroll in the course. And now, on the last day, they do not regret the decision.

“Honestly, this class was something I never knew I needed,” says Williams, a senior Communication Studies and Sociology major from Taylor, Mich. “I didn’t expect my eyes to be opened so wide. I knew I wasn’t getting a complete education on American history. Getting that information now is beneficial.

The goal of the course was to offer students an opportunity to explore the national TRHT movement. The aim, according to the syllabus, was to expose students to how the movement is working to initiate deep societal transformation by changing the ways narratives around race are created and circulated throughout the United States.

The course was taught collaboratively by Dr. Douglas Davidson, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, as well as instructional leaders from the TRHT Kalamazoo movement. Mimi Abdul Bellamy, TRHT Arts & Education Narrative Change Design Team lead, was instrumental in creating the course curriculum and bringing it to Western. Bellamy, in addition to their work with TRHT Kalamazoo, works for the Walker Institute for the Study of Race and Ethic Relations at WMU.

Winifred Wilson, TRHT Youth Leader Coordinator and Evaluation Intern, taught the majority of the course and had a front-row seat to the students’ growth and transformation.

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