Update on my year-long anti-racism project (join me won’t you?!) Part Two

At the beginning of 2024 I launched a new year-long project.  Past projects have induced getting rid of three things every day for as it turned out, two years, making handmade watercolour cards and writing a note of gratitude to someone every week, for again, what turned out to be two years.

This year I decided, based on W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz’s “Do the Work, an antiracist activity book” to focus on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) and anti-racism. 

My goal was to do a minimum of one anti-racist thing a month for a year.

How’s it going?

You tell me.  You can see part one here, for the first half of the year.  And the second half of the year update is below.

What do you think?

Some notes about the process; things that have helped me stick to it:

1. I decided that one thing a month wasn’t enough.  
2. Starting in February, I created a simple framework to help me stay focused, looking out for books, movies/shows, music, courses, and causes.  
3. I keep track of resources I want to watch, listen to, etc. in a note on my phone, making it much easier to get and stay organized.
4. I expanded my focus to include marginalized communities.  For example, in honour of June’s Pride month, I focused on related resources.

Here’s what I’ve done for the second half of last year.

July

• I mixed it up this month focusing on aging/elders plus people of colour and I even threw in some non-dominant religion

• Book: Crones Don’t Whine (so great!)
• Movie/show:
  • Bob Marley; One Love 
  • Queen Sugar
  • Re:Mars luminaries, especially Episode 2, Ayanna Howard, a Roboticist with NASA
  • Seven wonders of the Buddhist world Amazon
  • Simon Biles Rising 
• Podcast;  Indigenous insights- Dr Tiffany Prete Beaderik  
• Donate: Royal City Gogos (Gogos is Zulu for grandmother)

August

• This month’s focus was on unconscious bias
• Book
  • The leaders guide to unconscious bias
  • Unapologetically Black Girls Book Club, Dr. Dominique Riviere
• Movie/show
  • Etymology Nerd’s YouTube Channel (so many words come from black culture)
  • Standing Tall (2024) documentary about Canadian Senator Wanda Thomas Bernard – “not to speak for but to bring the voices in”
  • Get comfortable with being uncomfortable | Luvvie Ajayi Jones, TED talk
• Music
  • Tia Wood (Canadian Indigenous person)
  • Becca Hatch (Australian Kamila’s/Samoan)
  • Inuuniaravit (Born to Be Alive) by Elisapie 
  • Andre Henry
• Podcast
  • Brown Table Talk
  • Hope and Hard Pills, Andre Henry and Trish’s
• Courses LinkedIn
  • Unconscious Bias, Why identify your bias? LinkedIn Learning
• Donate: Akira Chix 

September

• Book: Andre Henry’s incredible book  “All the White Friends I Couldn’t Keep”
• Movie/show
  • The Black Godfather (Clarence Avant)
  • All dirt roads taste of salt 
• Music: Katseye (K-pop girl group)
• Podcast Karen Walrond  on Brene Brown’s Unlocking Us podcast 
• Course; UN antiracism workshop
• Donate: Andre Henry

October

• In honour of World Mental Health Day this Month
• Book: Never Been Better by a Japanese Canadian author, a rom-com about two patients in a psychiatric ward 
• Movie
  • Will and Harper documentary 
  • Stutz; documentary with Jonah Hill and his psychiatrist
• Music – playlist
• Podcast
  • We can do hard things
  • The anxious truth
  • Feelings and other F words
  • Depresh Mode with John Moe
  • Where should we begin with Ester Perel
  • The Mental Illness Happy Hour
  • Terrible, Thanks for Asking
• Course – Shamiri Institute’s TEDx talk, a fascinating talk on how biased mental health is to the Global North’s way of thinking and how that can be fixed
• Cause – Shamiri Institute

November

• This month I focused on neurodiversity
• Book; ADHD Solution Deck: Health & Wellness: How to balance health, happiness and ADHD 
• Movie – Netflix Series Extraordinary Attorney Woo
• Music
  • Tourette’s Syndrome: Billy Eilish
  • Dyscalculia & Dyslexia: Cher
  • Dyslexia & Dyspraxia: Florence Welch 
  • ADHD: Will.i.am 
  • Asperger’s Syndrome: Susan Boyle 
  • Tourettes; Fans Helped Him To Finish His Song | Lewis Capaldi | 
• Article: What can we learn from Lewis Capaldi? 8 Tips for embracing neurodiversity
• Course: Hiring and supporting neurodiversity in the workplace, LinkedIn Learning
• Cause- Ayira cafe
  

December

• This month I focused on Indigenous issues
• Book: Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants (TBH I haven’t finished it yet but I’m devouring every page of it. Soooo fabulous)
• Movie:
  • Bear’s Lair – Indigenous Dragon’s Den
  • Dakota 38 + 2, Documentary 
• Music: Emma Stevens 
• More to come as I take a bit more time to finish off this focus.

Do any of the above sound intriguing to you?  Make a note and get reading, watching, and donating to the causes as the needs are great and our power to help is large.

I’ll say more about my learnings in another post but until then ….

Now go on and learn, laugh, and lead

Learn

• Marginalized communities are spread far and wide, in every corner of the world.  Pick some communities that speak to your heart and soul and join me in my year-long focus won’t you please?

Laugh

• Two people (including the driver) in a taxi with Tourettes, both of whom have a fabulous attitude towards mental health (not to mention hilarious).

https://youtu.be/sQKYYE0AC_4?si=8XRSHlx2CxfygI26

Lead

• Join up with a friend and/or colleague and plan your own DEI year.  Create your own monthly themes.  And let me know how it goes.