Welcome to the Spring 2025 21-Day Challenge for Racial Justice for Faculty & Staff: “An Invitation to Heal.” This special annual educational initiative has brought dozens of our Elms employees together “in community” to share, reflect, support and learn together.
This year we will read, reflect and dialogue together using the common book America’s Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal by Larry Ward, Ph.D.
Dr. Ward (pronouns he/him) is a poet, writer, spiritual teacher, and co-founder of The Lotus Institute. He is a senior Dharma teacher ordained in the Plum Village tradition and holds a PhD in Religious Studies with an emphasis on Buddhism and the neuroscience of meditation.
The Challenge kicks off virtually on January 23rd 12:30-1:00PM
Register here for zoom link and to secure your book
The Challenge dates are as follows:
January 24 — 30th (learning/partner work)
Listen: https://thurman.pitts.emory.edu/items/show/838
Read: Introduction and Part One: Deep
January 30th Community Open Dialogue 4:30-6:00 Dining Hall Annex
January 31-February 6th (learning/partner work)
Read: Part Two: Deeper
February 6th Community Open Dialogue 4:30-6:00 Dining Hall Annex
February 7-13th (learning/partner work)
Read: Part Three: Deeper Still
(Please complete as many Practices and Meditations as you can)
February 13th Community Open Dialogue 4:30-6:00 Dining Hall Annex
Program Goals
Participants in this program will:
- Discover where they are on their diversity, equity, and inclusion and justice (DEIJ) journey.
- Challenge deep rooted assumptions about race and racism
- Increase awareness about ideas and conversations central to racial justice
- Create safe spaces and opportunities for dialogue
- Acquire confidence and skills to engage in difficult conversations about race and racism
- Understand the value of community in building a more inclusive campus
Program Activities
- Deepen educational development through Readings and Videos
- Participate in weekly Accountability Partner Check-in Conversations
- Complete Weekly Private Journal Reflections
- Attend Community Open Dialogue Workshops
- Review/Acknowledge Community and Peer Accountability Partner Agreements
- Complete End of Program Survey
Peer Accountability Partner Overview
All participants in the 21-Day Challenge are encouraged to pair up with a Peer Accountability Partner. Peer Accountability Partners provide support, encouragement, and a safe space for processing ideas and feelings with a trusted colleague outside of the large group weekly meetings. You are expected to meet weekly to discuss your reactions to the selected program materials you will complete each week. The meeting between partners allows for in-depth reflection and dialogue as a way to build community.
No Accountability Partner? No problem!
- If you would like a peer accountability partner but haven’t paired up yet, or would like to be paired with someone that is in a different department from your own, let us know and we will help.
- If you prefer to go solo, you are still welcome to participate in the 21 Day Challenge for Racial Justice!
Suggestions for Accountability Partners:
- Decide what check-in style works best for both of you (text, phone call, email, Zoom, in-person office meeting, go for a walk, meet for coffee/tea, etc.). Dr. Eddie Moore’s 21 Day Challenge Tracking Tool is a helpful tool for planning and tracking progress.
- Start each week with an Accountability Partner Check-in to preview that week’s challenge materials and share ideas for how you’ll fit the challenge into your schedule. Perhaps you will use time usually spent on recreational reading or other media consumption to instead read a challenge article. Could you listen to a podcast during your morning walk? Maybe you can meet up with your Accountability Partner to watch videos together in-person or via Zoom.
- Mid-week and/or end of week Accountability Partner Check-ins can be used to process ideas and feelings, ask each other questions you might not feel comfortable asking the whole group, role play ways to approach old situations in new ways, and share strategies (i.e. journaling, making a list of action items, searching for additional resources about a particular topic, rereading/reviewing materials to think deeply about their message, etc.).
- Accountability Partners can support each other during the whole group weekly meetings, through their shared experience and insight into each other’s work throughout the week.
- Moving beyond the 21 Day Challenge, your Accountability Partner is part of your community and a partner in continuing these vital conversations and this very important work.
For more tips on Accountability Partners, check out “Do the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book” by W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz.
Peer Accountability Partner Agreement
Please keep in mind the following principles when working with your Peer Accountability Partner:
- The partnership is a professional and equal relationship based on mutual respect, collegiality and trust
- The partnership is non-hierarchical and complements (rather than replaces) other forms of professional development
- Participants share responsibility for the relationships formed, which should be mutually valuable
- Participation is voluntary
- Reflection is a critical component of the partnership
Accountability partners agree to:
- Maintain confidentiality and respect each other’s privacy
- Be respectful, non-judgmental and supportive
- Keep to scheduled meeting times or give adequate notice of change
- Behave ethically and safely at all times
Community Engaged Dialogue Agreement
- Be open-minded, curious and courageous.
- Respect differences—we are all on different parts of a journey. Suspend your judgment about self and others—assume good intentions.
- Prioritize active listening to understand over trying to be understood. Speak for yourself instead of generalizing—use “I” statements.
- Challenge ideas, not people’s experiences. Take what you already think you know and ask: How can I take this deeper? Or how am I applying this in practice?
- Identify your learning edge and push it. Acknowledge discomfort as necessary for growth
- Hold your opinions lightly and with humility –Strive to move beyond opinion to informed knowledge, which comes from sustained experience, study and practice.
- Take a reflective stance—especially of your own frame of reference. Recognize how your own social positionality (e.g., race, class, gender, gender identity, sexuality, ability) informs your perspectives and reactions to others and the program materials
- Don’t take things personally or shut-down—notice your own defensive reactions and use them as entry points for gaining deeper self-awareness
- Maintain confidentiality—outside of our community, only share your own stories and lessons learned. What is learned is intended to be applied; however, do not share names or personal stories