List View
Day 1
Theme: I acknowledge that racism is a problem
Less Time: Becoming Anti-Racist for an overview of the journey to anti-racism. Then watch Systemic Racism Explained (4 min video) for a look at what systemic racism is, and how we can solve it.
More Time: Becoming Anti-Racist for an overview of the journey to anti-racism. Then watch Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America (2 hour documentary available on Netflix and other platforms).
Link to infographic Day 1
Day 2
Theme: I engage hard questions
Less Time: Explore the work of Justice-Based Occupational Therapy promoting advocacy for participation and health for those within and/or impacted and/or at risk for involvement with the justice system.
More Time: Listen to The Nocturnists: Black Voices in Healthcare Episode 1: Again (34 min podcast). In this first episode, the creators sit with the grief of the vent that set this project into motion: the murder of George Floyd.
Link to infographic Day 2
Day 3
Theme: I am growing in being uncomfortable
Less Time: Watch Understanding White Fragility (~5min video). It offers a short summary of why it is critical to talk about race as a white person, even though it is sometimes uncomfortable.
Also, consider purchasing this book (or check it out from the library!).
More Time: Watch Slavery by Another Name (90 mins.). This PBS documentary challenges the idea that slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation.
Link to infographic Day 3
Day 4
Theme: I talk to others who look & think differently to me
Less Time: Follow a BIPOC occupational therapist or organization on social media, or non-OT Black activists, authors, social change leaders. Use this list of recommendations or find another and share it here.
More Time: Select a podcast that represents different experiences than your own and listen to an episode or two. You can access a few ideas here, or find another and share it to this Padlet for others to learn about.
Link to infographic Day 4
Day 5
Theme: Reflection day: Moving beyond the Fear Zone
Less Time: Read an excerpt from Robert Jensen’s ‘The Heart of Whiteness’ about how fears are part of what keeps many white people from confronting ourselves and the system. Reflect on your own fears.
More Time: Watch this short Awareness Test.
Then start to change what you notice. For example (see more examples in the link above): Who is and is not represented in ads? Who are your ten closest friends?
Link to infographic Day 5
Day 6
Theme: I recognize that racism is a present & current problem
Less Time: Watch Dave Harris perform his poem “Sweet Tea” on Button Poetry (3:14) and listen to Harris’s experiences of racism.
More Time: Watch Let’s get to the root of racial injustice TED talk by Megan Francis (20 min video).
Link to infographic Day 6
Day 7
Theme: I seek out questions that make me uncomfortable
Less Time: Identify and jot down a time you remember something making you uncomfortable related to race.
More Time: Make a list of questions you have about other races/cultural groups. Find the answers to your questions without asking any people of color to help you (from damali ayo).
Link to infographic Day 7
Day 8
Theme: I understand my own privilege in ignoring racism
Less Time: Watch “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” with Peggy McIntosh (6:02) and identify some of the daily effects of privilege in your life.
More Time: Listen to1619 (Ep. 4): How the Bad Blood Started (39 mins.) about how Black Americans were denied access to doctors and hospitals for decades, then pushed to create the nation’s first federal healthcare programs.
Link to infographic Day 8
Day 9
Theme: I educate myself about race & structural racism
Less Time: Read/Listen to “A Racist History Shows Why Oregon is Still So White” on Oregon Public Broadcasting (7:53) to learn about how Oregon’s racist history shows why the state is still so white.
More Time: Watch the Racial Wealth Gap Vox Explained episode (16 mins.) digging into why measuring racial progress must include understanding the roots and dynamics of the Black/white racial wealth gap.
Link to infographic Day 9
Day 10
Theme: I am vulnerable about my own biases & knowledge gaps
Less Time: Explore/Follow ourkindofpeople on Instagram. Through images and stories, their work seeks to deconstruct how clothing, race, gender, and class signifiers affect our daily interactions and social systems.
More Time: Complete JEDI Reflection Points Module 1: Introduction to Bias (40 mins.). Provided by NBCOT, this training includes an interactive simulation that depicts a bias-related incident. Reflect on your own biases.
Link to infographic Day 10
Day 11
Theme: I listen to others who think & look differently to me
Less Time: Follow a racial justice organization on social media. Suggestions include: Movement for Black Lives, Color of Change, Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), and White Awake (find links here).
More Time: Read Processes of Decolonization. This proposition on the process of colonization and decolonization is based upon the experiences of 2 Indigenous people.
Link to infographic Day 11
Day 12
Theme: Reflection day: Moving through the Learning Zone
Less Time: Subscribe to the Mind & Life podcast and create your playlist for moving into the Growth Zone.
More Time: Read Becoming Anti-Racist Occupational Therapy Practitioners: A Scoping Study (full text in PU library is here) by Sterman & Njelesani (2021). Take action based on something you learn from the article.
Link to infographic Day 12
Day 13
Theme: I identify how I may unknowingly benefit from racism
Less Time: Read or listen to How White People Got Made (13 min). Written by Quinn Norton, this piece is Part 2 of a series on whiteness.
More Time: Watch “Segregated by Design” (~18 min) or check out the book on which much of the film's content is based. Both address the history of redlining and other segregation practices.
Link to infographic Day 13
Day 14
Theme: I promote & advocate for policies & leaders that are anti-racist
Less Time: Consider: “How aware have you been whether white leaders you follow are doing deeper antiracism work? How much of a priority has it been for you to push them to go beyond the visual effect of diversity?” (source).
More Time: Read the blog post Why Anti-Racist Occupational Therapy is the Current (and Forever) Work of OTs, then choose and follow through with at least one action suggested in What Can One Occupational Therapist do to be Anti-Racist?
Link to infographic Day 14
Day 15
Theme: I sit with my discomfort
Less Time: Read How to Fight Racism Through Inner Work to learn about how mindfulness meditation can be a means of tolerating the discomfort that comes with deeper discussions about race.
More Time: Explore resources available from the Mind & Life Institute about mindfulness as an approach to racial equity, and/or try these guided meditations:
For BIPOC (17 min)
For allies/accomplices (18 min)
Link to infographic Day 15
Day 16
Theme: I speak out when I see racism in action
Less Time: Watch one or both of these videos and think about how you might respond in different settings: How Do You Handle a Racist Joke (~1 min.) or
How To Tell Someone They Sound Racist (~3 mins.)
More Time: Watch Racism Wants Your Silence: It’s Time to Speak Out (~21 mins.), by Dexter Dias. In it, he says that we must use our power and privilege as citizens to demand change in every one of our spheres of influence.
Link to infographic Day 16
Day 17
Theme: I educate my peers about how racism harms our profession
Less Time: Think about and share (on social media or with a peer) an example of how racism directly harms occupational therapy. Need ideas? Review these questions to consider.
More Time: Develop an anti-racist elevator speech for occupational therapy’s role in working against racism. Look for situations in which you can advocate for anti-racist practice.
Link to infographic Day 17
Day 18
Theme: I don’t let mistakes deter me from being better
Less Time: Jot down a memory of a time you feel like you contributed to something that you now recognize as racist. What is one thing you can do differently in a similar situation in the future?
More Time: Plan for what you’ll do after your next mistake: “Use these moments as opportunities to listen, apologize, become more educated about privilege and oppression, and do better going forward” (source).
Link to infographic Day 18
Day 19
Theme: I yield positions of power to those otherwise marginalized
Less Time: Consider how you can take up less space and allow BIPOC “to take up more space so that they can be heard and their leadership followed” (from Layla F. Saad in Me and White Supremacy, p. 196).
More Time: Read the quote above, then write a journal entry with the following prompts: I am committed to uplifting, supporting, and centering BIPOC by…,I am committed to decentering myself as a person with white privilege by…
Link to infographic Day 19
Day 20
Theme: I surround myself with others who think & look differently than me
Less Time: Pick one book, podcast, or playlist that represents that is created by someone from a different experience than your own.
More Time: Donate and volunteer with racial justice groups that will put you in situations where you are the racial
minority. Don’t then brag about this experience and say you know what it’s like to be “a minority” or a person of color. (source)
Link to infographic Day 20
Day 21
Theme: Reflection day: Being in the Growth Zone
Less Time: Jot down 1 thing that you want to take away from this challenge and jot down 1 thing you are going to do to continue your personal work becoming actively anti-racist.
Less Time:Reflect on what has been easy or difficult in this challenge. Where do you feel you’ve grown? What are a few things you would like to continue to work on? Create a plan with at least 5 actions items for continuing making a habit of becoming anti-racist.
Link to infographic Day 21
