21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge©
There is never time in the future in which we will work out our salvation. The challenge is in the moment; the time is always now.
– James Baldwin
Northeastern Law’s Alumni/ae Association invites all graduates to join its 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge. The 21-Day Challenge concept was conceived in 2014 by diversity expert Eddie Moore, Jr. to advance deeper understandings of the intersections of race, power, privilege, supremacy and oppression. Moore has shared and encouraged others to use his concept as an educational tool and has generously given Northeastern Law permission to build upon his framework.
The Challenge kicks off on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, the first day of Black History Month. The format developed by the American Bar Association has been modified to include readings, viewings and listenings developed by Northeastern. The goal of the Challenge is to help participants become more aware, compassionate, constructive and engaged in their quest for racial equity.
The Challenge invites participants to complete a syllabus of 21 short assignments, typically taking 15-30 minutes, over 21 consecutive days, that include readings, videos or podcasts. The syllabus has been crafted to focus on the Black American experience. The assignments seek to expose participants to perspectives on elements of Black history, identity and culture, and to the Black community’s experience of racism in America. Even this focus on Black Americans cannot possibly highlight all of the diversity of experiences and opinions within the Black community itself, much less substitute for learnings about any other community of color. This syllabus is but an introduction to what we hope will be a rewarding journey that extends far beyond the limits of this project.
Use our tracking chart to stay on course. You can access a digital version here and copy it for editing.
21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge is the registered copyright of America & Moore, LLC, 2014.
Syllabus
Day 1
February 1, 2022 | Video
This CBS segment, highlighting the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project’s work with the family of Georgia lynching victim Lent Shaw, includes interviews with Professor Margaret Burnham and Melissa Nobles, dean of MIT’s School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences and one of CRRJ’s close collaborators. (April 12, 2018)
Day 2
February 2, 2022 | Podcast
- “How to Not (Accidentally) Raise a Racist,” Longest Shortest Time Podcast.
Day 3
February 3, 2022 | Reading
- Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” The Atlantic (May 21, 2014).
Day 4
February 4, 2022 | Reading
- Danielle Cadet, “Your Black Colleagues May Look Like They Are Okay – Chances Are They Are Not,” Refinery29 (May 2020).
- Katy Waldman, “A Sociologist Examines The “White Fragility” That Prevents White Americans From Confronting Racism,” The New Yorker (July 23, 2018).
Day 5
February 5, 2022 | Video
Megan Ming Francis, “Let’s Get to the Root of Racial Injustice,” TEDTalks (March 21, 2016).
Day 6
February 6, 2022 | Video
Featuring the work of Northeastern University School of Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ), “The Trouble I’ve Seen” follows the investigations of three harrowing civil rights cold cases. Founded by Professor Margaret Burnham, CRRJ takes on cases that both horrify us and beg us to correct the record, to search for reconciliation and remediation for families and communities that even decades later shudder in the shadows of bigotry and injustice. Narrated by Julian Bond, former chairman of the NAACP. (2013)
Day 7
February 7, 2022 | Reading
- Kristen Rogers, “Dear Anti-Racist Allies: Here’s How to Respond to Microaggressions,” CNN (June 6, 2020).
- Ali Vingiano, “63 Black Harvard Students Share Their Experiences In A Powerful Photo Project,” BuzzFeed (March 3, 2014).
Day 8
February 8, 2022 | Reading
- James McWilliams, “Bryan Stevenson On What Well Meaning White People Need To Know About Race: An interview with Harvard University-trained Public Defense Lawyer Bryan Stevenson on Racial Trauma, Segregation, and Listening to Marginalized Voices,” Pacific Standard (updated February 18, 2019).
Day 9
February 9, 2022 | Reading
- “Media Portrayals of Black Men Contribute to Police Violence, Rutgers Study Says,” EurekAlert! (November 29, 2018).
- Leigh Donaldson, “When the media misrepresents black men, the effects are felt in the real world,” The Guardian (Aug. 12, 2015).
Day 10
February 10, 2022 | Podcast
NUSL Women in the Law 2021 Podcast, Episode 3: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Featuring the Honorable Victoria Roberts, Michele Coleman Mayes, Dr. Darnisa Amante-Jackson and Su Joun.
Day 11
February 11, 2022 | Reading
- Karma Allen, “More Than 50% of Homeless Families are Black, Government Report Finds,” ABCNews (January 22, 2020).
- Scott Winship, Richard V. Reeves and Katherine Guyot, “The Inheritance of Black Poverty: It’s All About the Men,” Brookings (March 22, 2018).
Day 12
February 12, 2022 | Reading and Video
- Hannah Giorgis, “Black Art is Dangerous Because it Marries the Personal and the Political,” The Guardian (February 22, 2015).
- Reggie Ugwu, “Lena Waitheʼs Art of Protest,” The New York Times (December 2, 2019).
- Bryan Stevenson: “We Can’t Recover From this History Until We Deal With It.” (January 30, 2019).
Day 13
February 13, 2022 | Reading
- Rebecca Epstein, Jamilia J. Blake and Thalia González, “Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood,” Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality (2014).
- Adrienne Green, “How Black Girls Aren’t Presumed to Be Innocent: A New Study Finds That Adults View Them as Less Child-like and Less in Need of Protection Than Their White Peers,” The Atlantic (June 29, 2017).
Day 14
February 14, 2022 | Podcast
- “Seeking Justice for Hidden Deaths,” Northeastern University’s What’s New Podcast (February 5, 2019).
Featuring Professor Margaret Burnham, founder and director of Northeastern Law’s Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project.
Day 15
February 15, 2022 | Reading
- Peggy McIntosh, “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of White Privilege,” The National SEED Project (1989).
Day 16
February 16, 2022 | Reading and Video
- George Johnson, “White Gay Privilege Exists All Year, But it is Particularly Hurtful During Pride,” NBC News (June 30, 2019).
- Laverne Cox Talks about Intersectionality at Harvard, (March 11, 2014).
- D-L Stewart, Black Trans* Lives Matter (TEDxTalks) (April 22, 2019).
Day 17
February 17, 2022 | Reading
- N.K. Jemisin, “How Long ‘Til Black Future Month? The Toxins of Speculative Fiction, and the Antidote that is Janelle Monae,” Blog (September 30, 2013).
Day 18
February 18, 2022 | Reading
- Sam Dylan Finch: “Phrases Allies Can Say When Called Out Instead of Getting Defensive,” Everyday Feminism (May 29, 2017).
Day 19
February 19, 2022 | Reading and Video
- Jolie A. Doggett, “4 Questions About Hair that Black Girls Are Tired of Answering,” The Huffington Post (February 14, 2020).
- Jessica Moulite, “Exclusive: Rep. Ayanna Pressley Reveals Beautiful Bald Head and Discusses Alopecia for the First Time,” The Root (January 16, 2020).
- Hair Love, Oscar®-Winning Short Film, Sony Pictures Animation (2019)
Day 20
February 20, 2022 | Reading
- “Colorism,” National Conference for Community and Justice Bulletin.
Day 21
February 21, 2022 | Reading and Podcast
- Karyn Lacy, “How to Convince a White Realtor You’re Middle Class,” The New York Times (January 21, 2020).
- Who is “Karen” and Why Does She Keep Calling the Police on Black Men?, On the Media (Podcast) (May 29, 2020)
Additional Resources
- 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge
- Talking About Race, a new online portal designed to help individuals, families, and communities talk about racism, racial identity and the way these forces shape every aspect of society, from the economy and politics to the broader American culture.”
- Robin DiAngelo, Critical Racial and Social Justice Education: List of Resources
- Ted Talk: How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Toward Them
- Seeing White (14-part series podcast, 2017)
- Janice Gassam: “Your Unconscious Bias Trainings Keep Failing Because You’re Not Addressing Systemic Bias,” (Forbes, December 29, 2019)
- Michael Harriott: “How to Be a Better White Person in 202o,” The Root (January 9, 2020)
- Cheryl I. Harris, “Whiteness As Property,” 107 Harvard Law Review 1707 No. 8 (June 1993)