The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Equity, Inclusion and Diversity

7-Day Anti-Racism Challenge

Workshop Facilitated by Dr. Alan Mueller (he/him/his)
Monday, January 10 and Tuesday, January 11, 2022

In observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, The Office Of the Dean and The Heller Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity invite you to join the 7-Day Anti-Racism Challenge.

This workshop welcomes all Heller students, staff, faculty, and alumni. It is focused on inclusive language and practice. The content will center on anti-racism, decolonization, and inclusion.

The purpose of the 7-Day Anti-Racism Equity Challenge is to engage in reflection and practical thinking on how to integrate racial equity into one’s work and daily habits. This reflection sheet gives participants the opportunity to engage daily with curated anti-racism resources.

Exploring the System Around You

What is race?

  • Race is a social construct with real world consequences.
  • The concept of race was invented by Europeans in the 14th-16th centuries.
  • Papal Bulls and German Pseudoscience on skull size established rationales that dehumanized others.
  • Race and defining people as other than your race was central to European beliefs which rationalized enslavement and colonization.

What is racism?

  • Racism is a system that advantages people of one race above others through political, social, economic and educational systems.
  • Racism is different from bigotry.

Daily Resources:

We invite you to use this reflection sheet after engaging in materials daily.

Day 1

Interrogating the System Around You

Overt racism can show up in our language, symbols and messaging.

Many educational practices are still built around Euro-centric communication norms and considered “correct”. Interrogating these norms is critical in dismantling white supremacy.

Language continues to evolve, and researching terms that have racist histories can help you and your institution avoid doing harm.

Normalized practices that are described in non-racialized terms continue to carry real world implications for non-white people.

WATCH:
Aamer Rahman (Fear of a Brown Planet) - Reverse Racism

REFLECT:

  • What are practices, policies and symbols with which you interact daily?
  • To what degree do these practices, policies and symbols reflect systemic racism?
  • Do these practices, policies and symbols cause you to feel certain emotions?

Day 2

Race, Money, Access and De-Racialized Policies

WATCH:
Adam Ruins Everything Redlining Edition featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones

REFLECT:

  • Find the red line in your community (pro tip, using price filters for comparably equipped homes on Zillow can help).
  • After you’ve identified the red line in your community, use google maps to search for grocery stores, financial institutions, large chain restaurants, etc.
  • What do you observe in your community?

Race and Gender and Other Identities Intersect In life and In language

Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality to describe the interlocking systems of oppression faced by people holding more than one marginalized identity.

Two examples of intersectional language we’ll discuss are:
Latino / Latina / LatinX / Latine
Women / Womyn

WATCH:
Intersectionality - Broad Comedy's Katie Goodman and Carlita Victoria

REFLECT

Day 3

Learn More About the Uncelebrated

READ:

  • Read this feature on Bayard Rustin here
  • Read about early leaders in the LGBTQIA2s+ movement here or here

REFLECT:

  • Reflect on how race and gender inform each other in your life (if they do).
  • Ask yourself to consider how individuals who identify in multiple marginalized identities may experience amplified inequity, barriers and violence.

Day 4

The Value of Stolen Labor

DO:

  • Let’s do some math to explore the time-value of money (Use this tool to explore the time-value of money.)

    Enter the following:
    Number of Periods -- 380
    Starting Amount -- $18,720
    Interest rate -- 5%
    Periodic deposit -- $0

WHAT IS THE TOTAL?
Be ready to share your total at the workshop

REFLECT

Day 5

Reparations

WATCH or LISTEN:
Exclusive: Martin Luther King Jr. Talks Reparations in Previously Unheard Speech

REFLECT:

  • How does the speech make you feel?
  • How does this video address whiteness?

Day 6

How Racism and Colonization Intersect

DO:

  • Self Study: Using internet tools search for what indigenous nation was previously located where you work, where you live, where you have family and friends.
  • Take some time to read about the culture and history of that group.

REFLECT

Day 7

Let’s Talk About Your People!

DO:

  • Think about your racial identity. Think about people who share this identity with you.
  • Make three lists of 5-10 cultural characteristics of your people
    • What about your people makes you proud or thankful?
    • What about your people is funny?
    • What about your people makes you sad or angry?

REFLECT