A lot of people started following this blog for the #30DayEducationChallenge. If you completed the challenge live, you can skip this post (or forward to a friend who should participate). If you missed the challenge live, it's ok! You can do it on your own or with a group of friends at your own pace. Here's what to know: 

Who is this for?
This challenge is for everyone who wants to expand their knowledge of race in America. If you've been feeling overwhelmed with where to start, we gotchu.

What is the #30DayChallenge? 
This challenge is 30 days of materials, broken down into digestable 20-50 minute assignments, to help better understand race in America. Weekday assignments are free articles, podcasts, or videos and weekends are a free-to-stream movie or documentary from Netflix, Hulu, etc. Each day has reflection questions you are encouraged to discuss with your group, journal, or join the conversation on Instagram.

Recommendations for Success (if you're like me and obsess over best practices, here they are): 
  • Start on a Monday
  • Do the challenge with a partner or a group: this is good for accountability and for processing (especially if you're an external processor). We had mom groups, church groups, co-workers, friends, husband-wife teams, mother-son and mother-daughter teams for the live challenge.
  • Keep a journal: this is a lot of information and reflection is crucial. Record your responses to the reflection questions and notes from the lessons to help process and to be able to refer back throughout the month (almost every day is connected).
  • Block off time: we all have a lot going on so it's important to prioritize this. Block off time that you know you'll be able to commit to daily. 
  • It's ok to fall behind, just don't quit: we all fall behind. Pick it back up the next day and keep trucking- you're not being graded but this is important! The first week is always exciting which makes it feel easy. Week two gets tougher to find the time, week three gets easier, and week four feels like a breeze.
  • Get comfortable with being uncomfortable: during the challenge I heard from a lot of people that they felt ashamed, embarrassed, defensive, etc. Sit with those feelings. Where are they coming from? If you are a white ally in this fight, it's going to be uncomfortable but I promise these few days of discomfort are nothing compared to what Black women and men have to suffer at the hand of racism. 
  • Make it work for you: I listen to most of the podcasts and videos at 1.5x speed. I listen to the podcasts while I walk my dogs. I read articles in the bathroom. I did half the assignments with my morning coffee. Do you, just do it.
  • Follow on Instagram: you can find each day on Instagram, and some days there were really interesting conversations in the comments that took the readings/videos to the next level. 

The Syllabus


The Breakdown (you can bookmark this page and come back to it each day): 

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5


Disclaimer
I have 0 authority on any of this. People have whole PhDs on this topic, and I'm just here listening, Googling, crowdsourcing. I'm sure I'll F this up somehow and am REALLY open to feedback when I do - please share thoughts and comments!

#30DayEducationChallenge: Start Here

Friday, July 24, 2020


Day 30- we're on the final day! If you've completed the challenge, you've taken an important step in the fight against racism and now have a responsibility to act. For our last day we are listening to Ibram X. Kendi discuss how to be an antiracist t Unlocking Us With Brenรฉ Brown. Kendi is a historian, leader in the antiracism movement, author of four best selling books,  the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, a contributor writer at The Atlantic and a CBS News correspondent, and a  Frances B. Cashin Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for the Advanced Study at Harvard University.

Kendi explains that the opposite of racist isn't "not racist", it's anti-racism. It's not enough to simply not be a racist, we have to actively fight racism. There is work to do on ourselves and constant self evaluations and criticism required to uproot racism - you in?

๐Ÿ”— Links:
Brenรฉ with Ibram X. Kendi on How to Be an Antiracist via Unlocking Us
Spotify
Apple
Stitcher

Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal):

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. Why is constant reflection and self-criticism required to be an antiracist?
  4. What can you commit to in working to be an antiracist?

#30DayEducationChallenge: Day 30 How to be an anti-racist

Monday, July 20, 2020


For the last two days of the challenge, we're going to focus on where to go from here. This has been a long 30 days with an overwhelming amount of information, and now that we have the information we have a responsibility to do better. Today we are going to talk about reparations via an interview with Nikole Hannah-Jones who you may remember from the 1619 podcast. Reparations are defined as "the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged" and have been on the policy radar for years. I have to admit that, prior to my re-education, I used to roll my eyes at the idea of reparations - why should we pay people who weren't even around during slavery? My perspective has changed completely since better understanding our past with race, and I look forward to hearing thoughts on this concept.

๐Ÿ”—Links:
๐ŸŽง A Call For Reparations: How America Might Narrow The Racial Wealth Gap via Fresh Air
Spotify
Apple
Stitcher


Reflection Questions (join the conversation on Instagram, discuss with your group, journal):

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. Has your opinion about reparations changed over time? If so, why? 
  4. How could reparations help? How could they harm?

#30DayEducationChallenge: Day 29 Where do we go from here? Part I

Sunday, July 19, 2020


This weekend we are watching Trevor Noah's Netflix stand-up special  Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia. Growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa, the Daily Show host has a unique perspective on race and lets us laugh while learning. Trevor has has been recognized with Primetime Emmy wins, GLAAD media awards, NAACP Image awards, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.

See you Monday for Day 29 of our challenge!


#30DayEducationChallenge: The Weekend Watch

Saturday, July 18, 2020


To wrap up our Current Concepts topic, we're talking about white privilege. White privilege is defined as "inherent advantages possessed by a white person on the basis of their race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice." In today's TED Talk we're learning about recognizing privilege and using it to impact positive change.

The speaker, Peggy McIntosh, is the founder of the SEED project  (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity), an anti-racism activist, and Research Scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women.

๐Ÿ”—Links
๐Ÿ“บ"How to Recognize Your White Privilege -  and use it to fight inequality" TED.com (20 minutes)


Reflection questions (discuss with your group, journal, join the conversation on Instagram):

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. What are your thoughts on the concept of the "myth of meritocracy"? 
  4. How can you use your privilege to impact change? How do you want to see white allies use their privilege?

If you just joined us, ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผwelcome! You can pick up today and follow this live through the end. After we finish Day 30, please start from the beginning and complete the first two weeks in order.

#30DayEducationChallenge: Day 26 Privilege

Thursday, July 16, 2020


For today's concept we are exploring racial trauma, and specifically how the current environment impacts it. Doctors are calling racial trauma a public health emergency, and the impacts are important to understand. As a white ally, it has been tough to come to terms with the fact that I have contributed to others' trauma (see: white fragility), but those feelings pale in comparison to what people experience who are actually living through racial trauma. This is a topic I was trained on working in public schools, and I think is so, so important to understand. Let's listen, learn, and course correct.

To dive into this topic we are listening to a podcast episode from Terrible, Thanks for Asking (TTFA): "Policing and Racial Trauma with Angela Davis" which explores the intersection of racial trauma and policing. Panelists include:- Angela Davis, host of MPR News with Angela Davis on Minnesota Public Radio;  Resmaa Menakem, founder of Justice Leadership Solutions in Minneapolis and author of My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies; Justin Terrell, executive director of Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage; and Brittany Lewis, founder and CEO of Research in Action and University of Minnesota researcher at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs.

๐Ÿ”—Links 
Podcast website
Apple
Stitcher
Spotify

Supplemental Reading:
"Racial Trauma Is a Public Health Emergency" by Dara Winley (Psychology Today)
"Coping With Racial Trauma - an Infographic" The Empower Lab

Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal):

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. How should this information be tied into policy-making, education, public services, etc? 
  4. What can change this? 

#30DayEducationChallenge: Day 25 Racial Trauma

Wednesday, July 15, 2020



For Day 24 of our #30DayEducationChallenge we are examining fear. We've all seen the classic 'white woman clutches her purse when a Black man walks by her on the sidewalk' and we know it's not right. Why does it happen and how do we stop it?

We have two articles, the first from Ibram X Kendi - the founding NYT Best-Selling Author of Stamped From the Beginning and How to Be an Anti-Racist and the founding Founding Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research. The second article from Aamna Mohdin looks into the history of white fear.

๐Ÿ”—Links
๐Ÿ“–Who Gets to Be Afraid In America?  (The Atlantic)
๐Ÿ“–US history explains that white fear is just another way to enforce racial segregation (Quartz)

Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, journal, join the conversation on Instagram)

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. What is the responsibility of allies in changing this?
  4. What historic concepts do you recognize in these articles? 

If you just joined us, ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผwelcome! You can pick up today and follow this live through the end. After we finish Day 30, please start from the beginning and complete the first two weeks in order.

#30DayEducationChallenge: Day 24 Fear

Tuesday, July 14, 2020


Today we're exploring cross-racial relationships. People who share experiences with people from different backgrounds are less likely to hold biases, diverse teams in the workplace are smarter and more productive, kids in diverse classrooms are more likely to understand racism, and people who share experiences with people different from them have higher levels of empathy for groups outside of their race. So why is the average white person's friend group 91% white?

Today we're listening to an episode of Code Switch, "Ask Code Switch: What About Your Friends?",
that looks into this exact question as they "help listeners understand how race and and its evil play cousin, racism, affect our friendships."

This is a 45 minute listen.

๐Ÿ”—Links
NPR Website
Spotify
Apple
Stitcher

Reflection Questions (journal, discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram)

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. What is a takeaway, or something you can take action on based on this? 
  4. How did you feel listening to this episode? 

#30DayEducationChallenge Day 23: Cross-Racial Relationships

Monday, July 13, 2020


Welcome to Week 4 of the #30DayEducationChallenge! This week we are focusing on Current Concepts: ideas, notions, perceptions that we need to be fluent in to combat racism. We are kicking off this week with "white fragility" because understanding this concept and learning to identify it in ourselves and others is a first step in having tough conversations about race. White fragility is "discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted by information about racial inequality and injustice" and often prevents progress, upholding white supremacy.

 Author Robin DiAngelo coined the term "white fragility" in a 2011 academic paper, and you've likely heard of or read her book (e-book versions being made available at most libraries) by the same name that has sat on the NYT best sellers list for 85+ weeks. DiAngelo has been a facilitator, educator, and consultant for 20+ years on racial issues and is an Affiliate Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington, Seattle.

I recognize the controversy that surrounds this book in having a white woman seemingly profiting off of racial inequity, and still think it's an important concept to grasp before we get into some of the tougher issues this week.

If you've already read the book, feel free to skim the article below or use today to catch up on past assignments!

๐Ÿ”—Links
๐Ÿ“–"White Fragility: Why It's So Hard to Speak to White People About Racism" Robin DiAngelo via Compact (20 minute read)

Reflection Questions (join the conversation on Instagram, journal, discuss with your groups)

  1. What is something new you learned (either today or when you first learned about white fragility?) 
  2. What is something surprising?
  3. Why is it important to understand this concept? 
  4. How has white fragility helped uphold white supremacy?

If you just joined us, ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผwelcome! You can pick up today and follow this live through the end. After we finish Day 30, please start from the beginning and complete the first two weeks in order.

#30DayEducationChallenge: Day 22 White Fragility

Sunday, July 12, 2020


To wrap up our #30DayEducationChallenge week on systemic education we are watching Netflix documentary Teach Us All. The doc revisits our history with segregated schools and examines how far we've actually come since Brown v. Board of Education (spoiler alert- it's there is so much work to be done).

#30DayEducationChallenge: The Weekend Watch

Saturday, July 11, 2020


For the last day of our week on systemic racism, we're talking about voter suppression. We all heard what happened in Kentucky (ICYMI: the state cut the # of polling places from 3,700 to 200 and left ONE polling place for the district with the state's highest concentration of Black voters) this primary season and Georgia in the last election (ICYMI: the current governor does pretty much anything to eliminate democrat votes having the largest impact on Black voters), but this type of voter suppression is unfortunately not limited to these states. It's everywhere. We have learned the history of the fight for Black people to gain the right to vote, and the fight isn't over.

Gerrymandering, voter ID laws, voter purges, complex voter registration processes, polling place hours (because what hourly worker can take off a half day to wait in line?), restricting rights of individuals who have criminal backgrounds.. the list of policies that harm marginalized communities in the voting process goes on.

Today's a short assignment so we can spend some time reflecting on how we can make a change, or catching up on readings.

Today we're watching Carol Anderson talk to bae Trevor Noah about voter suppression. Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of One Person, No Vote:  How Voter Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy, which was long-listed for the National Book Award and a finalist for the PEN/Galbraith Award in non-fiction.

๐Ÿ”—Links
Required:
๐Ÿ“บHow Voter Suppression Affects Black People | Unpack That (5 minutes)
๐Ÿ“บ Carol Anderson on The Daily Show (11 minutes)

Supplemental assignments:
๐ŸŽงReveal: Who Gets to Vote? (screamed listening to this one)
๐Ÿ“–"Voter Suppression is Still an Obstacle to a More Just America" Time
๐Ÿ“บFighting Voter Suppression | Joevahn Scott TEDx


Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal)

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you? 
  3. What is something you can commit to in this election season to fight voter suppression?

If you just joined us, ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผwelcome! You can pick up today and follow this live through the end. After we finish Day 30, please start from the beginning and complete the first two weeks in order.

#30DayEducationChallenge Day 19: The Voting System

Thursday, July 9, 2020



To build on the base knowledge we've learned on history, housing segregation, and the education system, today we are going to explore the racial wealth gap. Like our other segments, the racial wealth gap's roots take us all the way back to reconstruction and a promise of 40 acres for formerly enslaved people to the Freedman's Bureau to discriminatory federal and state policies.

Something that has stuck with me on this topic is a conversation I had with a friend when we were working in a low-performing public school. Let's say families' wealth/economic status is on a scale of 1 - 10. When an upper-middle class kid (let's call them a 7 on the scale) goes through life, they are expected to maintain that 7 status, and it's a great success story (and not expected) to move up to an 8 in their lifetime. Meanwhile with Black families in low-income neighborhoods we all wonder why they can't just pull themselves up from a 1 to a 5. Why do we expect people with less resources, less support, less everything to traverse more levels than an over-resourced over-supported person?

๐Ÿ”—Links
๐Ÿ“บ Explained | Racial Wealth Gap via Youtube (16 minutes)
๐Ÿ“–1619 essay on the wealth gap via New York Times (15 minute read)
Note: if you're out of free NYT articles, you can copy/paste this link in an incognito window 



Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal)
  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you? 
  3. What are factors that perpetuate the racial wealth gap that you see active today?
  4. Do you think Black people should receive reparations? How does this history influence your opinion?

If you just joined us, ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผwelcome! You can pick up today and follow this live through the end. After we finish Day 30, please start from the beginning and complete the first two weeks in order.

#30DayEducationChallenge Day 18: The Racial Wealth Gap

Wednesday, July 8, 2020


Welcome to Day 17! Now that we have a base understanding of redlining and the causes of our current day housing segregation, it's time to talk education. Public schools are largely funded through property taxes and as we know, because of redlining and federal and state policies, Black people face significant barriers building wealth and are often forced into neighborhoods across America that remain segregated. Meaning poor Black schools receive on average $2,200 per student per year than schools in predominately white districts ($23 BILLION per year less). So yes, schools in Black neighborhoods are worse.

Enter the school to prison pipeline: a national trend in which students are funneled out of public schools and into the criminal justice system. "Zero tolerance" policies that suspend students for minor infractions, discriminatory discipline practices, and police officers in schools (schools that often have a part-time social worker and a one school counselor for hundreds of students many of whom are experiencing PTSD, neglect, etc) lead to poor Black students being disciplined in the juvenile justice system for issues that would normally be handled in the classroom and sent into the criminal justice system.


Links:
๐Ÿ“บThe School-to-Prison Pipeline Explained (3 minutes)
๐Ÿ“–Understanding the School-to-Prison Pipeline  (10 minutes)
๐Ÿ“บTED: How We're Priming Some Children for Prison and Some for College (16 minutes)


Reflection questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal)
  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you? 
  3. What can we as individuals do to fight this?
  4. What are examples you have seen (in life or in the news) of this in action?
If you just joined us, ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผwelcome! You can pick up today and follow this live through the end. After we finish Day 30, please start from the beginning and complete the first two weeks in order.

#30DayEducationChallenge Day 17: The School to Prison Pipeline

Tuesday, July 7, 2020


Today's systemic racism segment is the housing system, perhaps the biggest contributor to the racial wealth gap in the US. Red lining is "a discriminatory practice by which banks, insurance companies, etc., refuse or limit loans, mortgages, insurance, within specific geographic areas, especially inner-city neighborhoods".

Our country's history with red lining has had a lasting ripple affect that impacts almost every system we deal with: education, heath care, wealth, nutrition, crime, policing... This form of racism was built by federal and state policies and is prevalent across the country.

We're starting off with a quick overview on the history of Red Lining from NPR's Code Switch (6 minutes), followed by The Reveal podcast episode "The Red Line: Racial Disparities in Lending" that dives into modern day practices that prevent Black people from home ownership.

๐Ÿ”—Links:
๐Ÿ“บHousing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History | NPR (6 minutes)
๐ŸŽง"The Red Line: Racial Disparities in Lending" (50 minutes)


Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal):
  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. How did you feel learning about this topic?
  4. What can we as individuals do to combat this form of systemic racism?
If you just joined us, ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿผwelcome! You can pick up today and follow this live through the end. After we finish Day 30, please go start from the beginning and complete the first two weeks in order.

#30DayEducationChallenge Day 16: The Housing System

Monday, July 6, 2020


For week 3 we are focusing on systemic racism. Systemic racism is defined as "systems and structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage non-white people - you may have heard this referred to as "institutional racism" or "structural racism". We dove more into the definition of systemic racism here, and for the last two years we have discussed many systemic racism issues on #WakeUpWednesdays which you can view the content and discussions in any of my instagram highlights labeled with #WUW (short for Wake Up Wednesday).

Today we are focusing on the healthcare system. Racial healthcare disparities have become glaringly obvious recently as COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted the Black community, Black mothers are 3-4 times more likely to die in childbirth than white mothers, recent studies have found Black patients are up to 50% less likely than white patients to receive pain treatment..the list goes on.

To understand how we got here with medical treatment, we're listening to Episode 4 of the 1619 podcast: "How The Bad Blood Started" which traces the roots of this issue back to slavery.

Episode links:
Spotify
Stitcher
Apple

Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal):

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you?
  3. What is our role as individuals in fighting this issue? 
  4. If you're in the healthcare profession, would love to hear how your workplace fights this?

*Note: if today is your first day joining us - welcome! Head to the Intro Post to learn more about this challenge. You can start with today and stick it through to day 30 and then go back and do the first two weeks after!

#30DayEducationChallenge: Day 15 - The Healthcare System

Sunday, July 5, 2020



And just like that we're almost halfway through the #30DayEducationChallenge! If you're joining us for the first time this weekend - welcome! Read through the intro and get started in whatever way makes sense for you.

This weekend we're watching Selma which shows the three marches MLK led through Selma, AL as part of the fight for civil rights. While MLK's strategy of non-violence is usually framed as passiveness, this movie shows that the strategy was much more than what we've been taught. Another great film by Ava DuVernay, a force of Black History herself.

Selma is available to stream for free with Apple TV+, and available for rent ($3-$4) on Amazon, YouTube, and Google.

If you've already seen Selma, I recommend catching up on the assignments or watching Spike Lee's documentary Four Little Girls, Malcolm X (available for rent on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube), and Ali (on Netflix).

See yall next week!

#30DayEducationChallenge: The Weekend Watch

Saturday, July 4, 2020


Today we're talking about the marches that shaped the Civil Rights Movement. Day 8 talked about the Freedom Riders, The March on Washington, and Selma - I encourage you to click around the timeline we read to learn more about these marches.

But today we're talking about a group that doesn't get as much coverage but who greatly shaped the movement: the CHILDREN. Yes, children - get your tissues ready because this is incredibly inspiring, moving, and devastating. And since we are talking about marches, I also want to make sure we all see videos that document different angles of these peaceful protests than what we are used to seeing.

๐Ÿ“บThe Children's March (35 minutes)


Reflection questions (journal, discuss with your group, or join the conversation on Instagram):
  1. How did the Children's March documentary make you feel? 
  2. What is something new you learned?
  3. What is something that surprised you? 
  4. What is something from the Children's March that we still see today? 

#30DayEducationChallenge Day 12: The Marches

Thursday, July 2, 2020



For day 11, we are talking about the Vietnam War and its impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Fighting in America's first racially integrated conflict, Black servicemen were faced with the paradox of fighting abroad for Democracy while they could not experience Democracy at home and in the military. 

One of the key ways to avoid the draft was to enroll in college, meaning wealthy white people were able to dodge the draft while Black people had limited options. MLK and Malcolm X vocally denounced the war, and Muhammad Ali famously refused to serve and it cost him a significant portion of his career, $100,000 and a 5-year prison sentence.
"Many black Americans who had received an inferior education and, consequently, had evaded the draft, discovered, like Muhammad Ali, that they were now eligible. Of the 246,000 men recruited under Project 100,000 between October 1966 and June 1969, 41% were black, although black Americans represented only 11% of the US population." 
As we heard in last week in 1619, Black servicemen returned to the US to find continued discrimination and limited jobs. The draft, the war itself, and the treatment of Black servicemen significantly heightened the embrace of Black Power, further politicized Black Americans, and helped ignite further fights for Civil Rights.


๐Ÿ“–"War Within War" (The Guardian) (15 minute read)
๐Ÿ“–"Black Vietnam Veterans Recall the Real Injustices They Faced Before and After the Vietnam War" (10 minute read)
๐Ÿ“–"Muhammad Ali: symbol of the civil rights movement"  (5 minute read)


Reflection Questions (discuss with your group, join the conversation on Instagram, journal)

  1. What is something new you learned?
  2. What is something that surprised you? 
  3. How did the Vietnam War impact the Civil Rights Movement?
  4. What is something from draft or war that we see in action today? 
See yall tomorrow!

#30DayEducation Challenge: The Role of the Vietnam War

Wednesday, July 1, 2020