Today is the National Day of Racial Healing, which takes place each year the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This year, it also happens to fall on the day before we will inaugurate a new president – a momentous occasion in any context, but one that takes on particular significance as it marks the end of the most traumatic and violent transfer of power we have ever seen as a country.

This National Day of Racial Healing and the larger context of this moment presents an opportunity to reflect on where we are as a country and a society – how we got here, what it means, and where we go from here. The way that we move forward in the coming days, weeks, months, and years will have a significant – if not permanent – impact on who we are as a country and what that means for each of us as people within these United States of America.

Over the course of the past year, we have borne witness to too many painful reminders of the profound and damaging impact of systemic racism and its life-and-death stakes. It is no coincidence that the most violent and vehement of the rioters at the Capitol carried flags of the Confederacy and donned well-known symbols of white supremacist organizations and Neo-Nazi groups. Racism – and the fierce belief that this country belongs to some Americans more than others – is at the heart of what we saw unfold so destructively on January 6th.

We have also seen how the desire for power – and the unwillingness to let go of it – puts our country, our democracy, and all of us who live within it at great risk.

If we believe that we must change – and I believe we must – what does that call on us to do as nonprofit leaders and organizations? I cannot claim to have the answers, but here are my thoughts on some places to start.

Read the full article about healing potential of the nonprofit sector by Anne Wallestad at BoardSource.