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Challenge Days

Content Warning: Please note that this challenge contains descriptions and visuals depicting examples of past and current racism and violence in our society.

Day 1: Behind Racism

civil rights protesters holding signs that say we demand equal rights, integrated schools and decent housing now

Activities

Take a Deeper Dive

Day 2: Becoming an Anti-racist

"There is no such thing as being 'not racist.' The heartbeat of racism is denial."

–Ibram X. Kendi

Activities

Take a Deeper Dive

Day 3: History of Racism | Part 1

Slave ad that reads "GREAT/ NEGRO MART, / No. 87, ADAMS STREET, / MEMPHIS, --- TENN. / The undersigned would announce to the community at large, that they will keep/constantly on hand a/ GENERAL ASSORTMENT OF NEGROES/ AT PRIVATE SALE AND AT AUCTION. / They will also receive on commission (to Board or for Sale) any Negroes consigned/to their care. / All sales warranted as represented. / HILL, WARE & CHRISP."Understanding the history of racism is a crucial step in becoming anti-racist.

An ad looking for a woman named Fanny who escaped along with her daughter. The 7-year-old girl is described as a mulatto, which could suggest she is the daughter of the slaveowner seeking them out.Activities

Take a deeper dive

Day 4: History of Racism | Part 2

Young Ruby Bridges surrounded by US Marshals on school steps

Activities

Take a deeper dive

Day 5: Understanding Bias

Activities

Take a deeper dive

  • Take the course: Kirwan Institute's Implicit Bias Training This course will introduce you to insights about how our minds operate and help you understand the origins of implicit associations. You will also uncover some of your own biases and learn strategies for addressing them.

Day 6: The Effects of Racism

Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows 63 percent of Black adults and 45 percent of Hispanic adults say they’ve experienced racial discrimination in the last 12 months. A 2018 study published in the Lancet found Black Americans experience an estimated 50 million additional days of poor mental health annually, because of the numerous killings of unarmed Black people at the hands of police. Experts say these tragedies fuel a condition called racial trauma.

Activities

Day 7: Understanding Privilege

Family Guy's Peter Griffin at a traffic stop shown with a skin tone color chart indicating that lighter-skinned individuals are ok, but darker-skinned people are not.

Further reading

Day 8: Wealth Gap

Confederate 100 dollar bill depicting slaves picking cotton

Activities

Day 9: Black Lives Matter

blm-21

Photo by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash

#BlackLivesMatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, Inc. is a global organization in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.

– Black Lives Matter

Activities

Suggested Resources

Day 10: Other identities

Three people, a Mexican, an Arab and an Asian holding up photos of racist costumes. Text says: We're a culture, not a custume - this is not who I am and this is not okay

Activities

Day 11: Justice System

political cartoon noting the similarities between slavery and the war on drugs

© Khalil Bendib, bendib.com, all rights reserved.

Activities

Day 12: Defund the Police

Ben & Jerry's defund the police graphic showing a bowl of ice cream representing the police budget being scooped into smaller bowls labeled affordable housing, job training, education, mental-health counseling and substance abuse treatment

Defund the Police Activities

Take a deeper dive

Day 13: Education

Political cartoon showing two large figures Prison Pipeline; the cartoon depicts a caricature of the public education system, labeled with a sign that says they have no funds, funneling students into a hungry Prison Industrial Complex.© Khalil Bendib, bendib.com, all rights reserved.

Education Activities for everyone

Activities for educators

Day 14: Microaggressions

Before you assume, learn the facts.  Before you judge understand why.  Before you hurt someone feel.  Before you speak, think. 

–Author unknown

Microaggressions Activities

Day 15: Health and Healthcare

Black men in line for the Tuskegee syphilis study as white doctors and nurses inject them

Health and Healthcare Activities

Day 16: Media and Racism

animation of a television showing screenshots of two news articles from the same site, same day, same crime, one with mug shots, the other university sport team photos in suits

'If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.'

—Malcolm X

Media and Racism Activities

Take a Deeper Dive

Day 17: Healing

"Healing from racism is a journey. This journey starts with reflecting what you, as a white person, or a person of color, have been taught to believe about the world. This journey can be a bumpy ride, as it entails relearning the history of the world and how racism came into practice, as well as understanding how this history is linked to racial myths and stereotypes that you have been taught to believe. In so many ways, to heal from racism, you have to reeducate yourself and relearn the processes by which racism thrives."

- Annaliese Singh

Healing Activities

Suggested reading

Day 18: Intersectionality

"Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things."

– Kimberlé Crenshaw

Intersectionality Activities

Day 19: Anti-Racism and Equity in the Workplace

Infographic: How Common Is Workplace Discrimination? | Statista You will find more infographics at Statista

Anti-Racism and Equity in the Workplace Activities

Suggested Reading

Day 20: Racism and other 'isms'

"...Racism has a cost for everyone. And its primary function in our society has been to grease the wheels for a machine of greed that has impoverished almost everyone. Now more than ever today, racial division as a tool wielded by those who are the most wealthy, the most powerful, and the most self-interested, is something that breaks down potential coalitions between people who have common struggle."

–Heather McGhee

Racism and other 'isms' Activities

Take a deeper dive

Day 21: Becoming an Ally

“No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so.”

― Paulo Freire

Becoming an Ally Activities

Ways to get involved at SUNY Cortland