"Racism will disappear when it’s [...] no longer profitable and no longer psychologically useful...If you take racism away from certain people-I mean vitriolic racism as well as the story of social racist-if you take that away, they may have to face something really terrible-mystery, self-misery, and deep pain about who they are. It’s just easier to say, ‘That one over there is the cause of all my problems.’" - Toni Morrison
Author Photo Credit: Katy Grannan | Excerpted from Words of Change: Anti-Racism by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2020 By Kenyra Rankin. All rights reserved.
Learn
In her book Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown writes that we are engaged in an “imagination battle,” that the current conditions are the result of someone’s imagination, a de-humanizing and domination-oriented view. There are so many other alternatives, if we would be bold, broaden our view, and band together with one another to create new living and life-affirming stories.
Barbara A. Holmes is author of the book Race and the Cosmos, and she appeals to all of us to expand our views with the help of science and cosmology so that we can pull from a wider sense of who we are and could be. Watch this short video meditation (3 min) from Dr. Holmes offered by the Center for Action and Contemplation .
In addition, we invite you to watch two short segments of this video from a talk given by Penobscot educator, author and attorney Sherri Mitchell (:Weh’na Ha’mu Kwasset) on her book Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change (start at 19:35 and end at 24:12; then start at 29:12 and end at 33:02).
And lastly, watch the 2 minute video embedded on this webpage on “Bridging - Towards A Society Built on Belonging” from the Othering & Belonging Institute.
Reflect
There is a growing sense that these times are calling to live more concertedly into better ways of being and doing, ways that are just and regenerative of patterns of equitable well-being.
What thoughts, feelings and sensations did the videos provoke in you?
As you consider systems, including organizations and communities, that work for everyone (characterized by equitable belonging and well-being), what comes to mind and heart? What do you see, hear, feel, taste, sense?
Have you had even small glimpses of that future, in a moment, or interaction? What was that like? How could that be nurtured?
Act
- Reach out to a friend, family member, or colleague to have this conversation. What is their imagined world? How can we encourage and support the imaginations of others?
- Engage your organization, and/or your community (personal or greater) in an imagination conversation. See if you can weave “opportunity narratives” to counter the narratives of fear that are out there, especially in these times of pandemic.
Dig Deeper
- Richard Haynes is an African American artist who resides with his family in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and is originally from Charleston, South Carolina. Richard calls himself “a cultural keeper and maker” who “uses his art not only to make society aware of the invisible in this world but also to provoke unity.” One of his projects focuses on revisiting and re-visioning the past the way it might have gone differently with respect to racism and othering, so as to get a different vision of what the future could be. How might you retell the past as a way of creating inspiration and ideas for a just and liberated future?
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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