If you’re a regular reader you’ll know that I love a year (or more) long project. There’s something about the routine and ritual of having a project spread out over a year.
In 2020 and 2021 I focused on clutter and got rid of three things every day for two years.
Then in 2022 and 2023, I focused on making a handmade card and sending it to someone with gratitude.
This year I’ve changed things up and I’m focusing on ‘doing the work.’
After reading W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz’s “Do the Work, an antiracist activity book” I knew I had my new project.
In their brilliantly written, uber-interactive, and engaging workbook, there’s an endless array of things to do to address racism.
Taking their advice:
COMMIT!
You can’t do everything all the time, but you can do specific things at specific times.
I’m combining their action items from their scavenger hunt (page 125 if you have the book and if not, go get it!) and their commitment items (page 142). I’ll aim to do one thing a month.
Here’s the list.
Books
1. Read a book! Set aside a time each week to put down the phone and pick up a book from the Do the Reading list in the back of the book.
2. Read a book of poetry. A book of poetry published in the last year by a BIPOC poet
3. A memoir by a BIPOC woman with a very different life experience from yours.
4. A “classic” twentieth-century novel written by a BIPOC author
Films, movies
5. Have a monthly Family Movie Night, where you watch a family-friendly movie with a BIPOC lead, diverse cast, and positive message.
6. Watch films featuring Black leads that aren’t about a) trauma, slavery, or c) the civil rights movement (and The Help doesn’t count).
7. Watch a film made in and about a country you’ve never been to.
8. Watch a show that centers the following in a lead role:
a) An AAPI woman (Asian American, Pacific Islander)
b) An Indigenous person
c) An LGBTQ + person
d) A MENA person (not portrayed as a terrorist) (Middle East, North Africa)
e) A Latino/a person (not portrayed as a criminal/domestic worker)
f) A trans person (played by a trans actor)
9. A movie that passes the Bechdel Test. Named for cartoonist Alison Bechdel, it must feature at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man.
10. A movie that passes the DuVernay Test (named for director Ava DuVernay), a film/show in which “African Americans and other minorities have fully realized lives rather than serve as scenery in white stories”.
11. A movie that passes another test that you make up! The _____________Test
Podcast, Radio
12. Listen to a podcast hosted by a queer BIPOC person or duo.
13. A radio station/show featuring music from around the world:
Other: Social media, news, issues, holidays
14. Social media time! Expand your feed to include: BIPOC disability justice activist (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour)
- Indigenous rights org
- Fat liberation activist
- A Trans rights activist
- BIPOC feminist org
- Climate justice activist
- Prison abolitionist
- Reproductive rights activist
15. A BIPOC-focused news outlet (online or print)
16. Choose an issue or cause to commit to for a week, a month, a year. Set aside time for research and learning, as well as planning and doing.
17. Mark cultural holidays on your calendar. What special days are coming each month? Learn about up ones you’re not familiar with, both for your own enrichment and for the benefit of your community. Know when Lunar New Year begins! Don’t schedule meetings on Yom Kippur! Understand why some of your students may have low energy during Ramadan!
18. Choose a monthly Donation Day!
19. Create your own special “holidays”-we all know they gave Black history February because it’s the shortest damn month. If April 3 can be National Chocolate Mousse Day and October 2 can be National Name Your Car Day, anything is possible. National Reparations Day? National End White Supremacy Day? And what about National Talk to Your Racist Family Members Week?!
20. Celebrate Activist Birthdays. Pick someone who inspires you, put their birthday on your calendar, and come up with ways to celebrate them.
Again, each month I’m going to do one of the activities from the list. Please join me. I’d love to have some company.
I’ll keep you posted along the way.
Now go on and learn, laugh, and lead
Learn
- See what resonates for you and discuss with a friend or colleague.
Learn some more
- Antiracism work doesn’t have to be complicated.
Lead
- Buy the book, print off the list, and start your own annual ‘Do the Work’ project.
P.S.
- Have you signed up for this week’s Learning and Development Roundtable – Getting motivated and building healthy habits (especially if you’re lagging and sagging)? Hurry up!
- More info here.
- Register here for free.
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