As the Nov. 5 general election quickly approaches, this year’s Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) Annual Legislative Conference (ALC), will hold many events to encourage voters toward the booths and emphasize togetherness during this divisive time. The conference’s annual ‘Day of Healing’ event, on Sept. 14, serves as a moment to celebrate the role and power of faith in African Americans’ continued fight toward justice, unity and peace.
As in years past, thousands will flock to Walter E. Washington Convention Center early Saturday morning for a 7:30 a.m. event that feeds stomachs and souls. This year’s special guests are Bishop Paul S. Morton, Pastor Beverly Crawford, and gospel singer Zacardi Cortez.
“Day of Healing is not just a celebration—it’s a gathering of hearts and minds, coming together to reflect on our shared history and to draw strength for the work that lies ahead,” CBCF wrote in an announcement about this year’s gathering.
Historically, faith has been a critical part of working toward justice for the African American community. A decade after the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) was founded in 1971 during the 92nd Congress, leaders realized that certain issues could only be addressed through faith.
Forty-three years after its inception, Dr. Barbara Williams-Skinner, who, along with her husband Tom Skinner, co-founded the first prayer breakfast in 1981, explained the annual faith celebration is still necessary today.
“If there was ever a time that as African Americans we need to be all engaged in the mission of seeking justice and hope at a time of uncertainty, that time is now at the prayer breakfast,” Skinner-Williams said in an interview following the Democratic National Convention.
The Rev. Derrick Harkins of American Baptist Churches of Metropolitan New York told The Informer her plans to come to D.C. for the annual faith event.
“The Day Healing helps us be effective in educating people to what the critical issues are: having a plan, mobilizing people, from phone banks to carpools and we have to have our strength,” he said.
Harkins also noted the Day of Healing allows attendees to reflect on their past in hopes of strengthening the future.
“We have to come from somewhere deeper than ourselves, and it’s encouraging to what our ancestors did,” Harkins told The Informer. “From Nat Turner to Vernon Johns., The prayer breakfast reminds us of how prevailed in the past.”
The Rev. Dr. E. Gail Anderson Holness, pastor of Adams Inspirational African Methodist Episcopal Church said that she plans to be at the annual event on Saturday, Sept. 14 to pray for a better nation and world.
“I am one who truly believed that prayer changes things,” said Anderson Holness, who was a D.C. delegate at the Democratic National Convention.
The local faith leader and District Democratic delegate said with the general election quickly approaching, this is a time of prayer and action.
“I have prayer calls twice a week that involve hundreds of people around the world,” she said. “But faith without works is dead.”