The past few harrowing weeks have been hard to handle, even for those of us not directly on the front lines of the racism against the Black community. While I am a person of color myself, and have experienced my own share of racism as a Latina immigrant, I cannot begin to imagine the fear, terror, anger, and loss experienced by our Black sisters and brothers targeted in such a specific, violent way by the system racism the rest of us can sometimes ignore. The time for ignoring is done, for all of us.
I also have no illusions that as someone who has experienced prejudice I am somehow immune to racism in myself. I have become increasingly aware over the years of my own biases and complicity in racism, especially thanks to initiatives such as the research done at the Kirwan Institute on Implicit Bias or the very sobering Implicit Bias test from Harvard's Project Implicit, as well as the very helpful focus on antiracist pedagogical practices in my own teaching community. But the more I reflect and more voices I hear in the current outpouring against racism, the more I see how far I have to go to root racism out of myself and out of my communities.
As a result, a couple of weeks ago I wrote out a personal curriculum for the rest of this year and beyond to keep myself focused on the tough but necessary work of antiracism, even if (when?) the buzz fades around me. It's a project I've called "30+ Weeks of Antiracism," and though it's a personal initiative I made for myself, I thought it could be helpful to share it here in case anyone else wants to join me on all or parts of this journey. My self-educating antiracism curriculum is basically inspired by 4 things:
Seeing posts on social media asking people to do something beyond posting a black square or a hashtag.
Seeing questions calling people out on whether they will keep being interested in anti-racism once it's not "trending."
Giving myself an organized plan for acting against racism going forward that doesn't depend on burdening the black people in my life to educate me or come up with things for me to do. I value the conversations about how white people and non-black POCs need to do this work ourselves.
My family and I participate in an art initiative called Inktober, which is a creative community that sketches based on a shared daily prompt each day for 31 days in October (along with other year-long projects). I love this method of creating community and accountability simultaneously, and find it very motivating. The idea of sketching daily is also meant to get you into a habit of mind and action so that you keep doing it even when you no longer have the Inktober prompts. It seemed like I could probably successfully apply this methodology to my goal of acting against racism. Hence the 30+ (30 weeks left this year at the forming of this list - but the idea is that by then it becomes part of your normal, habitual actions and way of seeing the world). To be clear, this project is in no way affiliated with Inktober - just inspired by the basic principles of accountability and forming a consistent practice.
With that explanation out of the way, here is the list I came up with, and which I am a couple of weeks into now (you can see because of the Father's Day point in the list). There are more than 30 items here, and at times I know I may miss a week (I hope not!) or replace one with a different item based on the context. What matters to me is the overall consistency of the practice. I have revised it a few times already thanks to feedback from others and my own reflection, and it will likely change again, but this is the basic list of actions:
Learn about the historical relationship between policing and Black people in the US. Take action to help change it.
Donate to, volunteer for, learn about, or amplify an antiracist organization.
It’s Father’s Day this weekend! Learn about the experiences of real Black dads.
Read a work of fiction by a Black author.
Read a work of non-fiction by a Black author.
Strengthen your connection with a Black friend, and/or reflect on the nature of your interactions (or lack of interactions) with people in the Black community.
Listen to music by a Black musician - and learn more about them.
Learn more about the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and Black Wall Street.
Learn more about Jim Crow laws.
Learn about laws in other areas (economy, housing, etc.) that currently perpetuate racism.
Learn about a Civil Rights figure who is not MLK.
Learn about a Black woman scientist.
Learn about a Black philosopher.
Learn about a Black Olympian.
Read something written by a Black athlete.
Learn about Black astronauts, including Ed Wright, who did not become an astronaut.
Learn about how LGBTQ+ issues affect the Black community in particular.
Learn about Black people in another country.
Listen to a podcast with a Black host.
Have a conversation with a family member about racism.
Have a conversation with a friend about racism.
Learn about a Black candidate running for office at any level.
Research for the November election with anti-racism in mind.
Vote against racism at all levels.
Buy something from a Black-owned business.
Read a comic created by Black authors/illustrators.
Read a children’s book by a Black author.
Play a game by a Black developer.
Watch a movie with a Black director/writer.
Watch a TV show with a Black main character.
Learn about Kwanzaa.
Make New Year’s Resolutions against racism.
Let me know if you have suggestions for any of these actions! I will likely post updates about my journey in antiracist education throughout the year on my Instagram, @tyrannicalwhimsy. If you'd like to join in, I'll be using the hashtag #30wksofantiracism.