In the midst of constantly advocating for justice on behalf of Black victims of police brutality, it's important that every once in a while, activists take some well-deserved time and unwind from those daily stresses. While not everyone has the luxury of completely detaching themselves from such pressures, one movement is encouraging that action in a collective manner — and its results are bound to be life-changing.
Believing there can be a cosmic shift within everyone's path should they participate at the same time on the same day, creative professionals Sarah Springer and Cela Sutton created A Day of Release, a campaign meant to protect your mind, body and spirit. Scheduled for this Saturday, which is the day of Summer Solstice, creatives and activists nationwide are encouraged to share an individual piece of work they’ve been holding back in an intentional act of expression and release. The collective sharing will serve as a metaphor for letting go while encouraging shared growth. Not exactly a meet-up, this event is instead a designated moment -- 12pm PT/ 3p ET for participants to collectively release the work we've been holding onto via social media through the official #ADayofRelease hashtag.
The event will come a day after Juneteenth, the annual commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.
Blavity spoke with Cela and Sarah and picked their brains on the decision-making process behind this day as well as their goals for this movement moving forward.
Blavity: How did this idea come to life?
Sarah: The idea for A Day of Release started when I began thinking more and more about what was holding me back personally as a creative and journalist and how freeing myself to finally let go could allow for something new.
Then I started to really think about how something like this could impact my community and especially if we did it at the same time. I'm a huge believer in energy, and especially collective energy, so I thought if we could do this together maybe this could allow for an actual cosmic shift. It was something that was on my mind, and I met with Cela and told her a little bit about it, which was really exciting because it was clear that she was someone who not only got the idea, but that it would really resonate with.
Cela: When I met Sarah and she told me about her idea of allowing ourselves to release whatever is it we need to make room for new energy, I was so excited because at that time I probably had 10 to15 ideas and concepts in various stages that needed to come to fruition. I pride myself on being creative and an idea machine, but I've not seen enough of them cross the finish line. I’m also a true believer in energies and spirituality and really felt that energetically it could be so powerful to do this together. And just as Sarah said, for that cosmic shift to happen ... would literally release any burden I felt or any type of fear of rejection or of judgments or of not being good enough. The pain of not feeling good enough is what I've really struggled with for some time now.Blavity: Why the decision to make this June 20? What about the solstice makes this a special day?
CS: So we decided to have this on June 20 because it's actually Summer Solstice, and for us, that day represents a cosmic shift in our world, in our universe energetically, and we thought it would be so powerful to be able to individually release something that collectively we're all doing together on a day that represents change, a day that represents something new, a day that represents growth. ... Even more importantly, it’s the day after Juneteenth. June 19 represented our ancestors' release from slavery, release from bondage and release from the decades of senseless brutality that they had suffered from. This year, June 20 serves as a release of all the dreams our foremothers and fathers had coming to fruition, coming to light and gives us courage to show the world what we are really made of: magic.
SS: The significance of doing this at the same time on the same day together is the power of collective energy and us really centering and focusing on ourselves and the new path that we can create together. The significance of that and the symbolism of letting go is something that we feel is really really important for our community. I think this time it's very, very significant for us because I feel that there is no turning back -- we've seen historically time and time again the cyclical impacts that oppression has had on our communities and our mental health and our physical health. It's just really important for us to remember that — on this significant day and the days that come after that. This is our time and if we don't do it now then when?
Blavity: Cela, I know that Juneteenth has a historical significance in your family's life. How does that resonate with you and your work with A Day of Release?
CS: I realized Juneteenth was incredibly significant for my family specifically because my family comes from Galveston, Texas, where Juneteenth started because it is the place where the last remaining slaves worked. They were not told that they were free, and my grandmother was born in 1907, which means that I easily have great great grandparents or family in that generation that were among those slaves, and that just really hit me today. The significance of us doing this the day after Juneteenth, where we literally are asking people to use their imaginations to create a world that they don't see. ... We don't see the world that we want to be in yet. We don't see the lives that way yet. ... That's something that we are choosing to claim, but it's not our reality, it's not the present.
Blavity: Finally, how important is letting go in the process of self-care, mental health, healing and moving forward?
SS: It's so important that we let go in the process of trying to heal, which adds to our self-care, which adds to the improvement of our mental health and essentially moving forward because not only does it allow us to create space for new things, but it takes off that heavy coat, that burden, that heaviness that comes with being Black in America.
CS: Self-love is an act of defiance, rebellion and revolution. We still choose to love ourselves when everything in the world tells us otherwise.
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