DAY 21: Reflection on Week Three, Looking Ahead to the Future

Today’s prompt builds on yesterday’s reflection about how the Challenge has guided you to think and act differently, perhaps more boldly, on this journey of racial equity and justice.

How will you put any of your new commitments into action, starting as soon as Monday? What do you need to do so? Do you have what you need, or can you organize it into being, perhaps with help from others?

There is work to do on your own, but much of the change we need will happen in collaboration with others as well. Looking back at past prompts, one of the first suggestions we often make under the “ACT” section is “Reach out to a friend, family member, or colleague to have this conversation.” Who are your potential accomplices at work, at home, or in your community? In the greater book industry? We are in this together. 

Commit to anti-racist reflection and action as an ongoing practice, a way to chronicle the year ahead through writing, drawing, music, or some other expression. Choose something that will work for you so that you can continue to reflect and integrate your learning from this Challenge, find opportunities for healing if needed and also see how your dreams for the future can begin to unfold. Let your own “garden” for justice blossom and extend across boundaries! 

From SIBA: Thank you so much for being present and participating in this 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge. Please feel free to share this with your staff and colleagues. May we all continue our work together as anti-racists to create positive change in our industry, our communities, and our world.

Author Photo Credit: Courtesy American University by Jeff Watts | Excerpted from Words of Change: Anti-Racism by permission of Sasquatch Books. Copyright 2020 By Kenyra Rankin. All rights reserved.

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). We are so grateful for their extraordinary work creating this program and making it available to other organizations.