(indistinct) (Susana sighs) - The sweet smell of copper.

And sage.

And sage.

(Susana and Pilar laugh) I am a first generation Trinidadian with a father who comes from Arima, Trinidad or Port of Spain, and a mother who comes from Louisiana.

And these are some deep things way out.

(Susana singing in foreign language) (maraca rattling) - [Susana] I was born in Chihuahua, Mexico to single mom.

Coming to the United States, straight to Chicago, Little Village, I experienced bullying because I didn't speak English.

(waves crashing) (maraca rattling) (Susana and Pilar singing in foreign language) - Growing up on the south side of Chicago and being kind of in the middle of two worlds, a world where my grandmothers and aunts taught me the beauty and richness of culture and knowing who we are and where we come from versus my introduction into Black America.

- We give thanks for this day, the opportunity to be together again, and appreciation of our people.

- And I'm so honored and so blessed and so grateful the spirit found me worthy, you worthy, us worthy to do this work together.

(Pilar speaks in foreign language) (waves crashing) (Susana speaks in foreign language) - Yes.

- This background of mine is really what has prompted me to want to create solidarity and support for communities and to challenge the system right.

(Pilar speaks in foreign language) - You know, sharing culture with my friends like Susana here who may be of a different culture, but we having the understanding that there's a common thread that connects all of us.

(gentle music) (waves crashing) - I was made aware of how I have always been segregated, right, in the neighborhood my mom chose to bring us into.

and even afterwards, right, with me working in the community, you know, still within the Latino community.

So yeah, this has been my journey into becoming a part of Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation.

(gentle music) (people singing) (drums beating) (woman singing in foreign language) - [Pilar] Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation in Greater Chicago is a movement.

I am proud to say as an amazing cohort of courageous brothers and sisters of all walks, of all ethnicities, backgrounds, creeds, and colors who are willing to do the work in an effort to prove that solidarity truly heals.

(gentle music) On our sage corners, the idea is to consecrate the land and the area and make it sacred, right?

To bring the sacred element into the community.

And then once we set up our prayer altars to invite divine spirit to use us to do what will be edifying to the community.

- [Susana] Sage, like copper, we consider them to be medicinal tools, right?

To help cleanse us or harmonize our energy, or to help us engage in a moment of meditation or reflection.

Thank you everyone for making it out here this Sunday morning.

I'm being called to unite us in song and delight in the musical sounds of our elders.

Close your eyes and connect with the light that is a part of your inner self.

Connect with that darkness as well, and let's leave this here in this circle and let it generate outward to the world that surrounds us.

So this is the chant (speaks in foreign language).

♪ He-ya, he-ya, hee, ya-ya ♪ ♪ He-ya, he-ya ♪ - [Pilar] You know, we go out into the community to some of the most disenfranchised, disinvested corners, or communities where people are like, "Oh girl, you're going to stand out there?"

And I'm like, yes, because the idea is to show the power of love and intention and how it pervades all of the evils of this land.

- Thank you, you guys are chose, right?

(laughs) (maraca rattles) It's like natural to you.

Yes, this song is natural to all of us and It's important to sing wherever we are to express our thankfulness and our appreciation.

So we're gonna call out intentions to the four directions.

So we say to the east, (Susana speaks in foreign language) Something that we often have done when we gather on these corners, it's an opportunity to call out to life and spirit that we may not necessarily see around us, but that is nonetheless there.

And it's an opportunity for healing for ourselves and for the community.

I just wanna say thank you for every opportunity I have to be in multiracial circles like we are right now.

This is a country that is multi-ethnic, multicultural, multiracial, and we've been segregated and kept apart intentionally.

- Yes.

- And so I celebrate every time that we come together and I give thanks.

- One of the things that many people say, "Well, what is a healing circle, or what is prayer burning sage?

What role does that play in segregation?"

And the answer is really simple.

People fear what they don't understand.

So segregation is now a tool that's been used and implemented that no one benefits from.

Everyone is suffering, which takes us back to the ancient idea of circle, the great circle of life, that if one person within the circle is ill, the entire circle is ill.

If one person has found the ability to heal, then that has the potential to heal the entire circle.

And so that really is the premise of the work that we do.

(gentle music) I remember coming here with Caro, my best friend from college.

And I remember things being so segregated, like it was very Mexican over here.

Like she's been Chileano, there were no people from Chile.

There was some Puerto Ricans, but no Black people.

My trauma with Little Village was years ago in college.

I remember when I would come home from college with my best friend, the tensions between Black and Brown people were so high that in order for me to go on her block on 26th street, I had to get clearance.

I remember even my church on the west side, on Monroe Street, there were two young Black boys that had gotten shot in Little Village.

Music, is it integrated at all or would you consider it still very much so Mexican?

- I think it's still primarily a Mexican community, but I live on the east side of Little Village now, and in the east side, I do see the integration of African-American families, White families.

(crowd chanting) But you know, when the George Floyd activities and protests were happening, this is one of the neighborhoods where the African-American people, they were made to feel not welcome.

- It wasn't the overall consensus, you would say?

It was that feeling, that sentiment of- - It's the sentiment of anti-looting.

- [Pilar] Yeah.

- Kinda wanting to hold someone accountable for the looting.

- [Pilar] Myself and a lot of my other Black friends and my Mexican friends, yeah, we were very intentional about coming over here and making our presence, our solidarity known.

- [Susana] A lot of protests that started off here and there were rallies as well.

- [Pilar] Yes.

(woman chanting in foreign language) (protestors chanting in foreign language) (woman chanting in foreign language) (Susana speaking in foreign language) - Ooh, giving thanks to the rising sun that warms each and every day and provides us with sustenance.

We give thanks for healing- - Having grown up in segregated communities kept me from establishing friendships with people of other racial groups, other cultural backgrounds, other social economic backgrounds as well.

(maraca rattling) (drums beating) It's this decisions by institutions governed by racism, right?

That keeps us in certain areas and limits us from opportunities.

The way that we've been also coached to not associate with one another, to not engage with one another.

So the second one you're marking male essence.

Male, female, mama, papa, (maraca rattling) grandpa, grandma.

Alright, let's try it this time with the sound of the wah-wah.

(Susana speaking in foreign language) In one of the circles, a White adult expressed the need to want to reconnect with his cultural heritage, but it's been so long that he doesn't know really what it is.

You know, I don't have a lot of friendships or associations with White people, but I think they're craving this reconnection with their culture.

I think it's part of what prompts their anger towards others.

You know, when they see people with their country's flags and celebrating their dances, their songs, I think there's a void for them.

(car engine revving) So they have all sorts of breads.

These are my mom's favorites, which are conchas, but yeah.

- I like bread with butter.

(Pilar laughs) - So yeah, these are kekis, we call them kekis in Spanish, like, I guess, the cupcakes.

And they do have some that have like filling inside, like with apple.

- [Pilar] I want bread pudding.

This one.

- Oh, there you go, yeah.

(Pilar cheers) - I'll have that.

- So we'll take a tray.

- I personally chose to be a bridge.

Bridges are very necessary.

Bridges connect, bridges build, bridges promote understanding.

Once you're afforded the opportunity to go into different communities and break bread and commune and take the time to understand, we begin to see that there are so many commonalities in our struggle.

That's how we heal.

- All right, think I'm gonna get an empanada.

I'm feeling like pineapple today.

(Susana laughs) - [Pilar] Yes, that's caramel?

- [Susana] Yeah, it's cajeta actually.

- [Pilar] And so what's the difference?

- Cajeta is, it's caramel.

- Okay.

(Laughs) (Susana laughs) - [Susana] It takes us visiting one another in different communities and demonstrating that to the residents who may not be used to seeing this multiracial collaboration.

Living in San Diego, his longest time.

- [Pilar] And one of the things that I've noticed just confirms the need for this reconnection, this cultural reconnection, is the sheer joy that people actually show us when they just see us together.

Like we call it a chi.

- Which is like an energy.

- Energy, right?

Like the energy of Susana and Pilar standing on the shoulders of our ancestors who once sat in community together and building upon that and bringing that energy back into the community and the energy that that gives off.

(Susana sings in foreign language) - [Susana] There's this need to unite.

I had this need to be out with the community and say enough is enough.

And as human beings, we have great potential to create beautiful things.

And when love, and when we allow love to drive us, the sky is the limit.

♪ He-ya, he-yo ♪ (Susana singing in foreign language) (maraca rattles) (drum beating) (Susana speaks in foreign language)