H3AL Coalition (Highlighting Equality and Equity through Education Advocacy and Love) is sponsoring a Community Healing Vigil in honor of the life of Major Gulia Dale III, a black army veteran gunned down by Newton PD. Dale proudly served the US military for over 40 years, including multiple tours in Iraq, and most recently was employed as an equal opportunity specialist at the Pentagon. On July 4th, Dale was gunned down by police in front of his Newton home, which he had owned for almost 3 decades. He was experiencing PTSD symptoms as a result of fireworks in the area, and his wife called Newton PD for help.

The vigil will take place on The Newton Green: Sunday, September 19th at 3:30 pm.
H3AL Coalition asks the community to join together in loving support of Mr. Dale’s family. Our hopes are to keep this tragic story from being forgotten or misunderstood by the public, and to foster healing reckoning and prioritization of true mental health resources and responses by those who are tasked with protecting and serving the community.
The community is invited to come for an afternoon of listening, sharing (feel free to bring your words, poems and other tributes to Gulia Dale III), raising our voices in song, candle lighting, and the creation of a community flower mandala.
H3AL Coalition is committed to telling the truth in the quest for equity. The truth is that this tragedy did not have to happen. The incidence of police discharging a weapon in Sussex county is statistically extremely rare. This statistical significance alone requires close examination. Empirical evidence proves that breakdowns in policies and procedures lead to worse outcomes for BIPOC. The complex role implicit bias plays in social interactions and institutions requires all of us together to acknowledge and work for change to prevent the occurence of such tragedies.

The ripples of pain felt in the Newton community requires a large container of loving support to hold those most impacted by this tragedy. H3AL Coalition invites you to be part of that loving support. We hope you can make it to this Community Healing Vigil.