The 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge

For 21 days, we invite you to do one action daily to further your understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity.

This plan, adapted from Dr. Eddie Moore’s 21-Day Racial Equality Habit Building Challenge© includes suggestions for readings, podcasts, videos, observations, and ways to form and deepen community connections.

About the Challenge

We think understanding white privilege and white supremacy is a powerful lens into the complexities of doing social justice work.

Can be done individually, with friends and family, or in your Sunday School class or small group.

Please use the tracking chart provided to stay on course and accountable to our habit building attention. Each day select one action from the categories below. Please consider diversifying your selections each day.

WATCH     READ     LISTEN
EXPLORE     ACT     NOTICE
Children’s Resources

Statement on Racial Violence from J. Herbert Nelson, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) (8:04)
https://vimeo.com/424168164

We Have a Choice by Jonathan Walton – Dean of the Wake Forest Divinity School (8:23)
https://twitter.com/wakediv/status/1267170492403810304?s=2

Tyler Merrit Project: Before You Call the Cops (3:09)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKeITMzMn7w

This is Us, Dr. Eddie Glaude explains why blaming current racial tensions on Donald Trump misses the point. (3 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe94RTSMh2s&feature=emb_logo

Racism is Real, A split-screen video depicting the differential in the white and black lived experience. (3 minutes)
https://www.vox.com/2015/4/30/8520305/systemic-racism-video

Confronting ‘intergroup anxiety’: Can you try too hard to be fair? Explores why we may get tongue tied and blunder when we encounter people from groups unfamiliar to us. (5 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsBpGmUeAsI

The Disturbing History of the Suburbs, An “Adam Ruins Everything” episode that quickly and humorously educates how redlining came to be. (6 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETR9qrVS17g

What Kind of Asian Are You? Humorous two-minute YouTube video that illustrates the utter silliness of the way many white Americans interact with Asian Americans. (2 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWynJkN5HbQ

What Being Hispanic and Latinx Means in the United States, Fernanda Ponce shares what she’s learning about the misunderstanding and related mistreatment of the incredibly diverse ethnic category people in U.S. call Hispanic. (12 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1A4Vsh5Qas

Indigenous People React to Indigenous Representation in Film And TV, Conversation with a diverse range of Indigenous people by FBE about media depictions of Indigenous people, Columbus day, and Indigenous identity. (15 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZkyL5pn74E

How to deconstruct racism, one headline at a time, TED Talk by Baratunde Thurston that explores patterns revealing our racist framing, language, and behaviors. (10 minutes)
https://www.ted.com/talks/baratunde_thurston_how_to_deconstruct_racism_one_headline_at_a_time/transcript?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2019-05-31&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button

The danger of a single story, TED Talk by Chimamanda Adiche, offers insight to the phenomenon of using small bits of information to imagine who a person is. (18 minutes)
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly toward them, TED Talk by Vernā Myers, encourages work vigorously to counter balance bias by connecting with and learning about and from the groups we fear. (19 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYyvbgINZkQ

Oberlin: A village Rooted in Freedom
https://www.pbs.org/video/oberlin-a-village-rooted-in-freedom-qubmgq/

Christianity in the Age of Anxiety, Dr. Brian Blount’s extended interview  with Dr. Wojciech Szczerba, WMPC’s Poland mission partner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FbxixFBSjQ&t=127s

13th, Netflix documentary by Ava DuVernay about the connection between US Slavery and the present day mass incarceration system. (1 hour, 40 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6IXQbXPO3I

Birth of a White Nation, Keynote speech by legal scholar Jacqueline Battalora, offers a blow-by-blow description of the moment the idea of, and word for, “white” people entered U.S. legal code. (36 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riVAuC0dnP4 

Just Mercy (2:16:00)
https://www.amazon.com/Just-Mercy-Michael-B-Jordan/dp/B082YJ8THX

Race: The Power of an Illusion, Three-part, three-hour film by California Newsreel exploring the biology of skin color, the concept of assimilation, and the history of institutional racism. (three 1 hour episodes)
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/race

Statement by Dr. Brian Blount, President of Union Presbyterian Seminary
https://www.upsem.edu/newsroom/statement-from-president-blount-on-the-death-of-george-floyd/

Who Gets to Be Afraid in America? by Ibram X. Kendi
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/05/ahmaud-arbery/611539/

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy McIntosh
https://nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack

Explaining White Privilege to A Broke White Person, by Gina Crosley-Corcoran
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/explaining-white-privilege-to-a-broke-white-person_b_5269255?utm_hp_ref=tw

21 Racial Microaggressions You Hear on a Daily Basis, by Heben Nigatu
https://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/racial-microagressions-you-hear-on-a-daily-basis?utm_term=.ni4bRwobgw#.gwyda5vde5

Guide to Allyship, Created by Amélie Lamont
https://guidetoallyship.com

Reflections from a Token Black Friend by Ramesh A Nagarajah
https://humanparts.medium.com/reflections-from-a-token-black-friend-2f1ea522d42d

Performative Allyship Is Deadly (Here’s What to Do Instead) by Holiday Phillips
https://forge.medium.com/performative-allyship-is-deadly-c900645d9f1f

White Fragility
https://libjournal.uncg.edu/ijcp/article/viewFile/249/116

The Disproportionate Risks of Driving While Black by Sharon LaFraniere and Andrew W. Lehren
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops-driving-black.html

The Average Black Family Would Need 228 Years to Built the Wealth of a White Family Today by Joshua Holland
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-average-black-family-would-need-228-years-to-build-the-wealth-of-a-white-family-today/

What White Children Need to Know About Race, by Ali MIchael and Elenora Bartoli
http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/What-White-Children-Need-to-Know-About-Race.aspx

Climbing the White Escalator, by Betsy Leondar-Wright
http://www.impactpress.com/articles/junjul04/escalator6704.html

Code Switch, hosted by journalists Gene Demby and Shereen Marisol Meraji
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch

TED Radio Hour – Mary Bassett: How Does Racism Affect Your Health? host Guy Raz speaks with Dr. Mary T. Bassett, Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University
https://www.kvpr.org/post/mary-bassett-how-does-racism-affect-your-health

Scene on Radio – Seeing White Series, host John Biewen and collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika
https://www.sceneonradio.org/episode-31-turning-the-lens-seeing-white-part-1/

Pod Save the People, Activism. Social Justice. Culture. Politics. On Pod Save the People, organizer and activist DeRay Mckesson
https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-people/

Black Like Me, host Dr. Alex Gee
https://www.alexgee.com/category/blacklikeme/

NPR Morning Edition – You Cannot Divorce Race From Immigration journalist Rachel Martin talks to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/08/721329196/you-cannot-divorce-race-from-immigration-jose-antonio-vargas-says

Black Americans Bear the Brunt of the Covid-19 Pandemic’s Economic Impact, NPR (3:00)
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/03/868469779/black-americans-bear-the-brunt-of-the-covid-19-pandemics-economic-impact

Go and see the murals and resistance art that has emerged in downtown Raleigh.

Learn about and visit Raleigh’s historic Oberlin Cemetery.

Oberlin: A village Rooted in Freedom (over 20 minutes)
https://www.pbs.org/video/oberlin-a-village-rooted-in-freedom-qubmgq/

Patronize African-American-owned businesses and/or research the positions of business where you spend your dollars.

75 Things White People Can Do for Racial Justice by Corinne Shutack
https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234

Visio Divina Practice – https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a1d93186f4ca3e5e9abaead/t/5ee2329a20da6a0d5a9f3363/1591882395477/VIsio+Divina-+Encaged.pdf

Journal your journey through this 21 Day Challenge.

Participate in a protest, march, vigil or time of prayer in person or online.

Write your elected officials.

Follow anti-racist accounts and black artists on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Test Your Awareness: Do The Test, This video shows us the importance of paying attention, and how much more we see when we are looking for particular things around us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

Use each question below separately as one day’s challenge:

• Who is and is not represented in ads?
• What is the racial mix of the main characters in your favorite TV shows? Movies?
• Who is filling what kinds of jobs/social roles in your world? Can you correlate any of this to racial identity?
• As you move through the day, what is the racial composition of the people around you? On your commute? At the coffee shop you go to? At the gym? At your workplace? At the restaurant you go to on the weekend?
• What are the last 5 books you have read? What is the racial mix of the authors?

Exceptional collaboration between Sesame Street and CNN’s Town Hall, entitled Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/06/06/entire-june-6-cnn-sesame-street-racism-town-hall-part-1-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/entire-cnn-sesame-street-coming-together-town-hall/

Here is a list of resources that promote solidarity with all races.
https://www.prettygooddesign.org/blog/Blog%20Post%20Title%20One-5new4?fbclid=IwAR2ULWJD-avghEj88YvfGhlNtUB8K0_tp6bovGAgP_bC7AXVlNi6fHHtWEY

Here is a resource to help our church’s children think and talk about race. Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester is available as a read aloud book online.
https://safeyoutube.net/w/PJcJ

Here is a list of recommended books for teaching children about race from Today’s Parent.
https://www.todaysparent.com/family/books/kids-books-that-talk-about-racism/?fbclid=IwAR3Am_HxZRt_9uTLzbg4tZnsbc2DOIRBmoxp1MGHsimggesParCpRKdp24w#gallery/books-that-talk-about-racism/slide-1