Governor Kay Ivey has proclaimed Tuesday, January 19, 2021, to be National Day of Racial Healing in the state of Alabama.

Ivey issued signed the proclamation on January 5 and shared it on her official social media accounts Tuesday morning.

“I urge all Alabamians to promote racial healing & transformation, as a means of working together to ensure the best quality of life for every citizen,” the governor said in a Tweet accompanying the announcement.

The National Day of Racial Healing has occurred nationwide every January since its inception in 2017. It falls on the Tuesday following Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

A project of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and its ongoing Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation process, the Day of Racial Healing seeks participation from communities across the United States in discussions about how America can work towards being a more racially equitable society.

The Kellogg Foundation is hosting a live-streamed event on Youtube at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 19, with several prominent leaders in the racial justice space.

Ivey’s proclamation reads in part, “[I]f we all dedicate ourselves to the principles of truth, racial healing and transformation we can all bring about the necessary changes in thinking, behavior, and systems that will propel this great country forward as a unified force where racial biases will become a thing of the past.”

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.