"My struggle has made me fierce, and we all need to be a little fierce to get things done." - Deb Haaland
Author Photo Credit: Deb for Congress| Excerpted from Words of Change: Anti-Racism by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2020 By Kenyra Rankin. All rights reserved.
Learn
Each generation is hopefully building on the work of those that came before. And this is ideally about multi-generational work.
In week 1, we offered a link to a short article and audio clip (3 min) on the importance of talking to children about their social identity. If this does not happen with care, it can be “done to them” with damaging results. We know that it can be challenging for some to know how to talk to and raise children who are savvy and brave about race and racism. The good news is that there is a growing body of research and resources to support parents, educators and caregivers, including the work of EmbraceRace.
We invite you to read some of the highlights of an interview with the founders of EmbraceRace, and if you have time to listen to as much of the interview as you can – “How to Talk to Your Kids About Race and Justice.” You might also look at this short tip sheets – “8 Tips for Talking to Young Children About Racial Injustice” and “10 Tips for Teaching and Talking to Kids About Race.”
Reflect
If you are a parent, educator or caregiver, how comfortable are you talking to your child/ren about race and racism? If you do talk to them, what strategies do you use? What has been effective? What has not been effective?
What do you see in the up and coming generations that gives you hope or pause?
Act
- Share these resources with (other) parents, educators and caregivers. Talk to them about their comfort levels, strategies, challenges and successes.
- Whether or not you are a parent, educator or caregiver, talk to the children in your life. Listen to how they think about race and racism. What are their visions for the future?
- Advocate for more education about race and racism at levels of education.
- Hold a meeting with your school representatives and the educators you work with to discuss how to implement anti-racist content and programing. Be an enthusiastic partner in these initiatives.
- Consider forming race-based caucuses within your group or team of co-workers, or talk with another person or two of a similar racial identity to you in order to take these conversations deeper and so you don’t hold them alone. For more information on caucusing and racial affinity groups, visit the Racial Equity Tools site and check out specific resources for BIPOC and white affinity groups.
- Engage in healing work for yourself. Review this handout from Anneliese Singh’s book The Racial Healing Handbook, focusing on the sections that are right for you (there is a section for white people and a section for people of color). Consider sharing learnings and reflections with others of similar racial identity to you.
Dig Deeper
Explore other links on the Challenge Resource Page. See how other Challenge participants are doing, and let them know how you are doing on the Challenge Bulletin Board
SIBA thanks its generous sponsors, who have made the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge possible:
Many of the quotes used in the Challenge are excerpted from Words of Change: Anti-Racism by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2020 By Kenyra Rankin. All rights reserved.
Although SIBA has modified when appropriate for a bookseller audience, the majority of prompts and resources come directly from the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge created by Food Solutions New England (FSNE), a regional collaborative network organized to support the emergence and continued viability of a New England food system that is a resilient driver of healthy food for all, racial equity, sustainable farming and fishing, and thriving communities. We are so grateful for their extraordinary work creating this program and making it available to other organizations.
Feedback? We welcome your thoughts.
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