MCC unveils center devoted to ‘racial healing,’ sparking change across Lowell

By: Cameron Morsberger 

LOWELL — It takes a great deal of strength and courage to “face our realities,” move past them and become better versions of ourselves, but Darcy Orellana and Middlesex Community College will encourage the community to do just that.

To recognize the seventh annual National Day of Racial Healing on Tuesday, Orellana — the executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion at the college — and other leaders held a racial healing circle and ribbon-cutting ceremony introducing the MCC Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation at the college Library.

Inviting local leaders, including Mayor Sokhary Chau, state Rep. Vanna Howard and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, the college officially honored the center, which Orellana now directs.

At 2 p.m., about 25 people participated in a racial healing circle, a hallmark of the center and its work. There, students and community members engaged in dialogue surrounding race and racism to “acknowledge the truth of the past” and share their own experiences, Orellana said. The circle was not open to the press.

“The racial healing circles certainly are not designed to be a cure for racism,” Orellana said, “but they are a way for us to engage in deep listening with empathy and compassion so we can find the common humanity between us.”

The ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. garnered a large crowd of student volunteers, college faculty and residents, and MCC President Phil Sisson spoke about National Day of Healing — the first the college has honored. Sisson, who co-facilitated the racial healing circle, said it’s a moment to “take collective action to create a more just and equitable world.”

Sisson said he will be meeting Trahan in Washington, D.C. next month to advocate for the commonwealth’s community colleges and discuss MCC’s priorities.

The Center for Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation will not serve a meaningful purpose only for MCC students, but will spread across Lowell “to change the narrative and heal the racial divides,” Trahan said during the ceremony. Those important conversations need to take place to “collectively deconstruct systemic racism,” she said.

“Middlesex Community College has long been committed to closing the persistent racial equity gaps which result in inequities in educational outcomes for students of color,” Trahan said. “Middlesex Community College understands that a deeper discourse regarding the root causes of racism and its impact on our community is the first step in truly achieving progress towards racial equity.”

After commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Chau referenced a quote from the civil rights leader: “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” He also presented a citation from the City Council congratulating the college on the center and its efforts.

The journey to unveiling the center started 10 years ago, Orellana said, when the college began working with the Leading for Change Racial Equity and Justice Institute and surveyed their campus data to understand their own student community and their outcomes. Two or three years back, they applied to the American Association of Colleges and Universities to form the center, referred to as TRHT, and received approval in the fall of 2021.

MCC is now one of 71 U.S. colleges to have a TRHT center, according to their website, having launched about a year ago.

Since then, Orellana said they’ve established a “resource space” in the basement of the MCC library and trained more than 50 people to facilitate racial healing circles.

Marianela Rivera, the executive director of Lowell-based education advocacy organization Fortaleza, said, after the circle, that she is “inspired and motivated” to receive facilitator training for her work. Healing circles, Rivera said, are “critical” in school spaces, especially when discussions around diversity, equity and inclusion can be triggering for some.

It’s especially important in Lowell, where racism was declared a public health crisis last year, she added.

“Centers like these are really critical in doing the work to address racism that’s embedded throughout our society,” Rivera said. “It’s not just here in the Lowell community, but it’s throughout our society.”

Lowell School Committee member Stacey Thompson participated in the circle, which consisted of introductory exercises, a deep reflection prompt and the opportunity to share one’s own thoughts and reflections.

When prompted to recall the first time she felt “othered” or recognized her race mattered, Thompson went back to fifth grade, she said. But it was more interesting to hear other people’s answers to that question, their own “lightning rod moment,” Thompson said, and seeking that truth in others and ourselves will carry on through the new center.

“It’s going to be huge,” Thompson said. “Anything where you can drill down on why equity is not happening in the ways that it should and can is important.”

Orellana said she is thankful that local figures support their mission at the center and what they aim to do there.

“I appreciate the willingness of the community just to step into this work and into the center,” she said. “The center is here to truly be a resource and a hub for the community, broadly defined our internal and external community. That’s what we hope to accomplish, and to hopefully prepare the next generation of leaders to do this work, working together.”