Action Book Club

About Us

In collaboration with the College of Education Student Association (COESA), Dean Karen Riley of the Morgridge College of Education (MCE) has committed to providing all incoming and current MCE Students with an eBook of How to Be An Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, to foster reflection, dialogue, and antiracist action. MCE Faculty and Staff started reading the book this summer. This Fall (2020), we will all participate in a cross-college, Action Book Club (ABC) throughout the Morgridge College of Education, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, and the Graduate School of Social Work.  

The purpose of this ABC is to bring systemic issues surrounding power, privilege, and oppression to the forefront and to invite interdisciplinary community-building to address current issues. 

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Your feedback is voluntary and confidential. Our team will not be requesting and collecting any identifying or personal information, but the survey provides you with several opportunities to continue your engagement

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Current Opportunities

Join Us!

The key objectives of participating in the Action Book Club are to support DU community members to:   

  • name the language of racism and its oppressive structures,   

  • critically discuss difficult topics and issues within a safe and intimate environment,   

  • analyze our personal and shared social impact in perpetuating and/or mitigating systemic oppression, and   

  • collaboratively develop and being to implement antiracist action steps to address these issues. 

Host or Join an Informal ABC

While all students are welcome and encouraged to join an Official ABC, we recognize the necessity of smaller safe spaces with friends when having challenging conversations. You are also encouraged to host or join an informal ABC throughout our DU community, scheduled directly with colleagues, to discuss the weekly ABC prompts.  

HTBAA

How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi

Weekly Prompts

  • Week 1
    Welcome to the Action Book Club (ABC) Community!

    This week our book clubs will be reading two chapters, Chapter X: My Racist Introduction and Chapter 1: Definitions, launching group discussions around racial identity, and reflecting on how we define antiracist communities.

    For our ABC facilitators – this is a great time to establish initial ground rules for your sessions and to get to know your participants! Please reference the ABC website for a Facilitator Training video prepared by DU Dialogues and for additional resources and activities.  

    Facilitator Training Video

    Facilitator Notes

    For Participants:

    Reflection Activities

    Cultural Competency Self-Assessment Checklist

    My Multicultural Self

  • Week 2
    Welcome to Week 2 of the Action Book Club (ABC) Community!

    This week our book clubs will be reading two chapters, Chapter 2: Dueling Consciousness and Chapter 3: Power. In Chapter 2, Kendi defines assimilationist, segregationist, and antiracist, explains dueling consciousness, and offers “a way to get free.” In Chapter 3, Kendi continues with a discussion of the relationship between race and power, and the “the self-interest of racist power.”

    For ABC facilitators:

    Facilitator Training Video

    Facilitator Notes

    For Participants:

    Week 2 Reflection Activities

  • Week 3
    Welcome to Week 3 of the Action Book Club (ABC) Community! 

    This week our book clubs will be reading two chapters:

    • Chapter 4: Biology--Kendi defines biological racist and anti-racist and expands on segregationist and assimilationist approaches.
    • Chapter 5: Ethnicity--Kendi defines ethnic racism and ethnic anti-racism and discusses how “to be antiracist is to challenge the racist policies” (p. 64). 

    Some of our book clubs may still be discussing last week’s content (Chapter 2, Dueling Consciousness & Chapter 3, Power). Please do not worry if you are late to start each week, or if your group discussions span over more than one week or meeting – lean into your process. 

    Starting this week, we will be including a weekly “highlight” that calls out systemic racism and how it is currently being addressed.  

    Week 3 Highlight: Colorado House Bill 19-1194 concerns the disciplining of students from Pre-K to 2nd grade enrolled in publicly funded education programs. You can read the bill content here (https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-1194) and learn about how students are disproportionately affected by removal and suspension in a one-pager prepared by Colorado Kids here (https://www.coloradokids.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/HB-19-1194-EC-School-Removal-One-Pager-v6-1.pdf).

    Message from ABC Curriculum Committee

    For Participants:

    Week 3 Reflection Activities

  • Week 4
    Welcome to Week 4 of the Action Book Club (ABC) Community!

    This week our book clubs will be reading one chapter, Chapter 6: Body. In this chapter, Kendi defines “bodily racist” and “bodily antiracist” and contrasts racist and antiracist policy discussions and policies, calling out the “violence of racism...that fears the Black body” and calling for the “nonviolence of antiracism that does not fear the Black body, that fears, if anything the violence of racism that has been set on the Black body.” (p. 80). 

    This chapter comes one-third of the way through the book and your book club’s journey. The focus on one chapter is intended to give you time to dive deeply: Take some time to reflect on your own bodies in the context of your book club and of current local, state, and national antiracist movements and efforts. Take time to check in with your group.

    Some of our book clubs may still be discussing last week’s content (Chapter 4, Biology; Chapter 5, Ethnicity). Please do not worry if you are late to start each week, or if your group discussions span over more than one week or meeting – lean into your process.

    Week 4 highlight: Calling out systemic racism and how it is currently being addressed

    Would you prefer to be accepted, or loved? In a recent episode of her podcast, “Unlocking Us”, Brene Brown interviews Sonya Renee Taylor, author of the book The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self Love. Taylor believes that acceptance is passive and that love is active, able to destroy and disrupt the systems in our society that scream to us that we are not enough. We are situated in a hierarchy that tells us some bodies possess more value than other bodies. In this way, Taylor connects body love with social justice, and body shame with oppression, racism, violence against black and brown bodies. We invite you to listen and learn about revolutionary practices of self-love.

    Brene Brown podcast with Sonya Renee Taylor: The Body is Not an Apology

    For Facilitators:

    Welcome & General Guidance

    For Participants:

    Week 4 Reflection Activities

  • Week 5
    Welcome to Week 5 of the Action Book Club (ABC) Community!

    This week our book clubs will be reading chapters 7 (Culture) and 8 (Behavior). In chapter 7, Kendi defines and distinguishes between a cultural racist and a cultural antiracist. He asserts that to be antiracist is to see all cultures in all their differences as on the same level, as equals. “The idea that Black languages outside Africa are broken is as culturally racist as the idea that languages inside Europe are fixed”. (p.83).  In chapter 8, Kendi emphasizes that what exists today is an opportunity gap rather than an achievement gap. “What if we measured intelligence by how knowledgeable individuals are about their own environment? What if we measured intellect by an individual’s desire to know? What if we realized the best way to ensure an effective educational system is not by standardizing our curricula and tests but by standardizing the opportunities available to all students”? (p.103).

    For those whose book clubs are not yet reading this segment of our book, please know the joy is in the journey. Learning to interrogate and dismantle our internal racism takes critical reflection and work. We encourage you to continue the dialogue, with the context of our current climate in mind.

    Week 5 Highlight: Advancing Equity and Antiracist Policies in Schools

    Interested in ideas for advancing equity in schools? In this episode of the podcast, Cult of Pedagogy, host Jennifer Gonzalez talks with Professor Pedro Noguero who shares “10 Ways Educators Can Take Action in Pursuit of Educational Equity.” Find the podcast here: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/10-equity/  In How To Be An Antiracist, Professor Kendi argues for equity in funding education, i.e. funding schools in a way that leads to academic success for all students. California changed the way it funds schools about seven years ago, adopting a formula that provides more funds to support students with the greatest need (among other changes). The Center for Transformation of Schools, started by Professor Noguero at UCLA, http://transformschools.ucla.edu/, presents case studies of three school districts, their implementation of the new funding formula, and initial student outcomes. 

    For Facilitators:

    Welcome & General Guidance

    For Participants:

    Week 5 Reflection Activties

  • Week 6
    Welcome to Week 6 of the Action Book Club (ABC) Community!

    To begin this week off, we wanted to send a broad acknowledgment and appreciation for everything each member of our audience is balancing and enduring this year. Many of us wear so many hats and have so many responsibilities each day, and we applaud you for managing and thriving during these challenging times.

    This week our book clubs will be reading Chapters 9 (Color) and 10 (White). In Chapter 9, Kendi defines and distinguishes between colorism and color antiracism, and calls for our society to reflect on broadly accepted standards of beauty.

    “To be antiracist is to diversity our standards of beauty like our standards of culture or intelligence, to see beauty equally in all skin colors, broad and thin noses, kinky and straight hair, light and dark eyes. To be antiracist is to build and live in a beauty culture that accentuates instead of erases our natural beauty.” (p. 114)

    In Chapter 10, Kendi defines and dives into anti-White racism while sharing his experience of the 2000 election. He relates his own process, responding to the election outcome with disillusionment and anger, and transitions to the need for differentiating between White populations and racist ideology and politics. He posits that while White populations benefit from racist policies, “we must discern the difference between racist power (racist policymakers) and White people” (p .129) as racist power manipulates White populations “into resisting equalizing policies by drilling them on what they are losing with equalizing policies and how those equalizing policies are anti-White” (p. 130).

    One broad question readers may want to keep in mind while they read Chapter 10: How does Kendi’s description and experience of the 2000 election compare to your narrative and experience of this year’s election?

    Week 6 Highlight: Upcoming Event “Educated Choice”

    Do you get your blue ballot book in the mail? A better question perhaps would be have you had time read it from front to back yetDo you have questions about items or people on the ballot?

    The ABC Curriculum Team is excited to share that member Klaudia Neufeld and classmate Brook Hafner (both are 2nd year doctoral students in the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, a.k.a. ELPS program) will be hosting a Facebook Live Discussion for Colorado’s 2020 ballot measures this weekend!

    Klaudia's focus is on equitable policies of inclusion for LGBTQ individuals, and Brooke’s focus is on access and equity within literacy. This collaboration spawned from their shared activist mindset and awareness that when people know better they do better. We are mothers, educators, and disruptors. Our positionality and intersectionality require us to stand in the gap and promote well-informed decision-making.

    With so much at stake this year, we hope to empower all those who vote in Colorado to make informed choices on each ballot measure. Everyone is welcome; this space is reserved for respectful dialogue and learning.

    https://scontent-den4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/120928173_10158682636003637_2490994186860540558_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=OfxreX7U1U8AX_UPgJt&_nc_ht=scontent-den4-1.xx&oh=c6e6cbf37fedd213ee52779514e6aaf7&oe=5FAFCB80

    For Facilitators:

    Welcome & General Guidance

    For Participants:

    Week 6 Reflection Activities

  • Week 7
    Week 7 Message from the ABC Curriculum Committee

    Undoubtedly, we are each coming to the table this week with some feelings regarding the tenor of society related to the upcoming election. We observe people stepping up into the best and worst versions of themselves. As you navigate the content this week, we encourage each of you to think about how we can learn from and do better. To be a part of the ABCs is one first step in taking antiracist action. How might we extend our learning into our own community, to hold ourselves and others accountable? How are we using our voice and our vote to advocate for antiracist policies and actions? We encourage sharing these explicit antiracist efforts and actions within your ABC this week; we’d love to hear feedback about your own individual experience within the ABC and within your community as we progress through Kendi’s text.

    In chapter 11, Kendi addresses the powerless defense, a logical fallacy that posits Black individuals cannot be racist because they don’t hold power in our society. He describes this racist construction as both an underestimation of Black people and an overestimation of White people. Throughout the chapter, Kendi deconstructs his own duality, “When we stop denying the duality of racist and antiracist, we can take an accurate accounting of the racial ideas and policies we support” (p.144). Linking examples from his own experience to specific racist actions of Black policymakers and other Black individuals in power positions, Kendi urges his readers to resist, “Racist ideas are constantly produced to cage the power of people to resist” (p. 142).

    Kendi introduces two important terms with definitions in chapter 12, in which he unpacks classist racism. He defines a class racist as, “One who is racializing the classes, supporting policies of racial capitalism against those race-classes, and justifying them by racist ideas about those race-classes". He defines anti-racist anticapitalist as, “one who is opposing racial capitalism”. A love of capitalism can lead to a love of racism. Kendi expands the metaphor of capitalism and racism as the conjoined twins, who are, “...again struggling to stay alive and thrive as their offspring—inequality, war, and climate change—threaten to kill them, and all of us, off” (p. 157). Kendi asserts the only way to dismantle class racism is to embrace antiracism and anticapitalism simultaneously.

    Week 7 Highlight: Antiracist Work in the World

    Throughout How to be an Antiracist, Kendi refers to the need for antiracist criminal justice reform. The protests for racial justice following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmed Arbery, and Breonna Taylor focus on demands for criminal justice reform. This week’s highlight focuses on the work of two organizations, one national and one state.

    The national non-profit organization, Equal Justice Initiative, works for racial justice and criminal justice reform. Led by Bryan Stevenson, public interest lawyer and author, EJI “is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.” Explore the work of the EJI on its website, in the book, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption; the film of the same title. 

    In Colorado, the Colorado Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform describes itself in this way: “Coloradans from many different experiences and perspectives are joining together to end the era of mass incarceration, racial disparity and a failed drug war. Through a new vision and an aggressive agenda, we’re advancing a broader debate and design of public health, safety and funding strategies through collective action.” One approach supported by the Coalition is community reinvestment, and a current pilot program is called Transforming Safety. “Transforming Safety is a community development approach to public safety in the pilot communities of North Aurora and Southeast Colorado Springs.” Find out more here.

    For Facilitators:

    Welcome & General Guidance

    For Participants:

    Week 7 Reflection Activities

  • Week 8
    Week 8 Message from the ABC Curriculum Committee

    At this point, Week 8, you are just over two-thirds through this ABC journey. This is a checkpoint week. Kendi in Chapter 13: Space provides a powerful lens through which to view racism and antiracism. Of “space racism,” Kendi writes, “The idea of the dangerous Black neighborhood is the most dangerous racist idea. And it is powerfully misleading. ” (p. 168) Kendi continues with “ideas of space racism justify resource inequity though creating a racial hierarchy of space, lifting up White spaces as heaven, downgrading non-White spaces as hell.” (p. 169)

    Through the lens of antiracist strategy, take some time to reflect on your group, on your neighborhood, on your workplace, on the state and national political arenas. Where do you see the racial hierarchy of space playing out? To what extent are you/we fusing “desegregation with a form of integration and racial solidarity” and championing resource equity? (p. 180)

    Week 8 Policy Highlight: Voter Suppression and Intimidation

    Members of the curriculum development team aim to be consistent in applying critical and inclusive lens to the development of the weekly prompts and content, and to meld our voices and perspectives during the development of this series. However, we acknowledge that we are diverse individuals on our own journeys of learning aimed at improving our selves and the world around us – we are imperfect and we are still growing and developing. (Excerpt from the ABC Curriculum Introduction, 2020)

    This week our local and national communities are immersed in anxiety, tension, fear, and hope. In this week’s highlight, our committee aimed to provide resources, support and encouragement as we all prepare for Election Week and its outcome.

    What is Voter Suppression?

    In Colorado, a young queer woman who lives with her parents anticipates her first opportunity to vote. Her father intercepts her ballot, then later hands her a separate sheet of paper with a list that replicates his vote. Her voice and vote is stripped away. This is just one example of voter suppression. Other more broad and detrimental acts of voter suppression, occurring across our country right now, include: premature deadlines for absentee ballots, requiring absentee ballots to be notarized, demanding specific forms of IDs for voting, removing polling sites, moving polling sites to hostile locations, blatant efforts to dismantle the USPS.

    To learn more about voter suppression in individual states, visit: https://wevotewecount.org/stories.

    • Organizations fighting against voter suppression: ACLU, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Let America Vote, Common Cause, League of Women Voters, Spread the Vote, Election Protection, Asian American Advancing Justice/Asian Law Caucus, Fairfight.com

    What is Voter Intimidation?

    We hope that everyone in our community feels safe, supported and able to practice their voting rights this week. However, we know voter intimidation tactics have been applied and practiced in previous elections and have “historically targeted Black communities, immigrants and communities of color in an illegal effort to deter them from exercising their constitutional right to vote” (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2020).

    So what do you do if you feel intimidated? And where is the line between legal poll watching and illegal intimidation?

    In an effort to provide some clarity, we wanted to re-share two helpful resources:

    For Facilitators:

    Welcome & General Guidance

    For Participants:

    Week 8 Reflection Activities

  • Week 9
    Welcome to Week 9, everyone!

    “Through groups like the Black Women’s Alliance (1970) and the National Black Feminist Organization (1973), through Black women’s caucuses in Black power and women’s liberation groups, Black feminists fought sexism in Black space and racism in women’s spaces. They developed their own spaces, and a Black feminist consciousness for Black women’s’ liberation, for the liberation of humanity.” (pp. 186-17)

    This week our groups will be transitioning from reflecting on the spaces we occupy to exploring the overlaps of gender, sexuality, intersectionality and racism in Chapters 14 (Gender) and 15 (Sexuality). 

    In Chapter 14, Dr. Kendi shares with readers his reflections on how patriarchal assumptions were visible in his own family dynamics, and the spaces Black feminists have historically battled within. We are left with summation that “to be truly antiracist is to be feminist. To truly be feminist is to be antiracist. To be antiracist is to level the different race-genders, is to root the inequities between the equal race-genders in the policies of gender racism.” (p. 189) Reading groups are encouraged to discuss why it is important for each of us to make visible and audible the experiences of Black women and Black queer folx, and to discuss the layers of privilege that exist in sexuality. Discuss how the following statement resonates with your group members: A cisgendered white male holds power and levers of opportunity that exceed all other sexual identities across the spectrum                                                                                                                                                                                                      

    In Chapter 15, Dr. Kendi is transparent with the grappling he did with his own queer racism. He reminds us that the most ideal place to stand is in front of the individual, thing, or concept that forces us to sit with our discomfort to shed old stories, racist childhood upbringing, and assumptions that perpetuate racism. As we observe the ‘Karens’ in society today, making blasphemous racist reports to the police and standing on lawns pointing guns at peaceful protestors, it is important to acknowledge the privilege and power of these “patriarchal women” (p.199).

    Week 9 Policy Highlight: Voting Access

    As the nation focuses on vote counts and outcomes, consider the work of protecting voting rights and making voting accessible to all. Of voting rights, Dr. Kendi writes: “Racist voting policy has evolved from disenfranchising by Jim Crow voting laws to disenfranchising by mass incarceration and voter-ID laws. Sometimes these efforts are so blatant that they are struck down: North Carolina enacted one of these targeted voter-ID laws, but in July 2016 the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck it down, ruling that is various provisions ‘target African Americans with almost surgical precision.’” (p.22). “Assure Every American Can Vote” is a program of the Brennan Center at NYU. The Brennan Center works “to make voting free, fair, and easy. The Brennan Center's reforms are modernizing American elections, starting with automatic voter registration and measures to ensure election security. And we fight restrictive voting policies that make it harder to vote.” You can explore the Center’s work here: https://www.brennancenter.org/.

    Wondering how to talk with students, friends, family about the elections? While aimed at supporting teachers’ work in classrooms, this issue of Teaching Tolerance offers practices and ideas that could also be useful when talking with friends and family: https://www.tolerance.org

    Week 9: Individual Activism

    Referencing the Black Lives Matter movement, and sharing his own path to queer antiracism, Dr. Kendi asserts that, “We cannot be antiracist if we are homophobic or transphobic” (p. 197).  Black trans women must be protected in the ALL Black Lives Matter antiracist work. Their average life expectancy today in 2020 is just thirty-five years. The Human Rights Campaign has tracked at least 34 targeted murders of Black trans women just this year (hrc.org). These facts necessitate inclusive antiracist action.

    To gain a deeper authentic understanding of the reality faced by Black trans women, we encourage you to watch “Disclosure”, a documentary on Netflix featuring Laverne Cox and other trans actors who expose the ugly history of misrepresentation and queer racism faced by those who paved the way for trans visibility and representation in Hollywood. 

    **Disclaimer: The curriculum committee respectfully pushes back against the author’s use of the term “homosexual” beyond presentation of the historical background of the introduction of the term. “Homosexual” is a term offensive to many queer individuals for its connection with misinformation and racist ideals focused upon the supposed hypersexuality and religious based criticism that pinned HIV upon primarily the gay male community. Our action will be to share our position in inquiry with the author to open dialogue and increase understanding around queer identity.

    For Facilitators:

    Welcome & General Guidance

    For Participants:

    Week 9 Reflection Activities

  • Week 10
    Week 10 of the Action Book Club! 

    Chapter 16: “Racial history does not repeat harmlessly. Instead, its devastation multiplies when generation after generation repeats the same failed strategies and solutions and ideologies, rather than burying past failures in the caskets of past generations” (p.202). It is important to note that race is a power construct rather than a social construct. As he defines the term of “activist”, Kendi is clear in asserting that, “An activist produces power and policy change, not mental change” (p.209). The failure of racism lies in the failed strategies and ideologies, in the uplift suasion and inability to see that tools for success exist within oneself. 

    Chapter 17: In Chapter 17, Dr. Kendi describes a successful antiracist future, with antiracist power and policies in place, and equity among all racial groups. In his ideal future, it would be the racist ideals that would be marginalized. This future, he understands, is one we must fight for and create through intentional antiracist work. ”Policymakers and policies make societies and institutions, not the other way around. The United States is a racist nation because it’s policymakers and policies have been racist from the beginning” (p. 223). Racism is both covert and overt; antiracism must be overt. Kendi models this intentional work in his own life with a professional endeavor to unveil historical racism and a personal endeavor to uncover his own history of racist ideals. The work begins with us, in us. 

    Week 10 Highlight: Dr. Bettina Love & Abolitionist Teaching

    Throughout his book, Dr. Kendi refers to injustices and inequality in education and the need for antiracist policies. In this highlight, we introduce the work of esteemed professor, researcher, and author, Dr. Bettina Love. Dr. Love’s “writing, research, teaching, and activism meet at the intersection of race, education, abolition, and Black joy. Dr. Love is concerned with how educators working with parents and communities can build communal, civically engaged schools rooted in Abolitionist Teaching with the goal of intersectional social justice for equitable classrooms that love and affirm Black and Brown children.” Dr. Love articulates a powerful vision for educators fighting against racism in schools and offers tools for working against injustice.

    In her most recent book, We Want to Do More than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom, Dr. Love advances a vision of working for justice that is rooted in the activism and civic engagement practices of the abolitionists. To support educators in this work, she started the Abolitionist Teaching Network which includes a podcast called Teaching to Thrive. Previously Dr. Love developed the Hip Hop Civics Ed curriculum: Hip Hop Civics Ed. As we think about school after the pandemic, Dr. Love urges us to think about schools and teaching as a time to start over:

    We now have the opportunity not to just reimagine schooling or try to reform injustice but to start over. Starting over is hard but not impossible; we now have a skeleton of a playbook. It starts with creativity, teacher-student relationships, and teacher autonomy.

    Read More Here

    Activism: Stand for Anti-Racist Curricula, Practices & Policies Thursday, November 19, 2020

    Over the past year, national leading organizations many of us are aware of, involved with and affiliated with have joined the dialogue and battleground to address the “pandemic of racism” (APA, 2020), including:

    • the American Psychological Association whose president and CEO disseminated an action plan for addressing inequality;
    • the Colorado Psychological Association that hosted several forums on racism in America;
    • and the American Educational Research Association that disseminated a statement in support of anti-racist education in September.

    This Thursday, November 19, 2020, over 2,000 students, educators, and advocates will be joining the American Educational Studies Association (AESA) to demand investment in anti-racist curricula, policies, and practices in our educational institution.

    We strongly encourage each of you to consider adding your name to the AESA Day of Action Sign Up and to utilize the drafted letter to communicate the anti-racist campus and community you envision for yourself, your classmates, and for generations of students to come to the Office of Chancellor Jeremy Haefner (chancellor@du.edu) and the DU Board of Trustees (boardoftrustees@du.edu).

     

    For Facilitators:

    Welcome & General Guidance

    For Participants:

    Week 10 Reflection Activities

  • Week 11
    Closing Remarks from the ABC Curriculum Committee

    Congratulations on following through with your individual commitment to our Action Book Club. Over the past 11 weeks, you have showed up in a safe and vulnerable space, shed old layers and taken on brave new antiracist ideals. There is much to celebrate in these moments as we have grappled with our own racism and made intentional strides toward being antiracist in our words and actions.

    Now that we have the head knowledge, we can apply our heart to antiracist action. In chapter 18, Dr. Kendi provides us with a frame for action moving forward:

    Admit racial inequity is a problem of bad policy, not bad people. Identify racial inequity in all its intersections and manifestations. Investigate and uncover the racist policies causing racial inequity. Invent or find antiracist policy that can eliminate racial inequity. Figure out who or what group has the power to institute antiracist policy. Disseminate and educate about the uncovered racist policy and anti-racist policy correctives. Work with sympathetic antiracist policymakers to institute the antiracist policy. Deploy antiracist power to compel or drive from power the unsympathetic racist policymakers in order to institute the antiracist policy. Monitor closely to ensure the antiracist policy reduces and eliminates racial inequity. When policies fail, do not blame people. Start over and seek out new and more effective antiracist treatments until they work. Monitor closely to prevent new racist policies from being instituted.” (p. 232)

    We honor you and your own pace on this journey. Whether you are a learner, educator, advocate, ally, policy trainer, maker or shaker - we are so glad you exist. It is an honor to learn alongside each of you. We stand with you in solidarity as we expand our influence on campus and beyond to completely eradicate racism.

    Finally, we want to send a special thanks to Dean Karen Riley for her ongoing support and leadership, and for ensuring Dr. Kendi’s book was available to all MCE students, faculty and staff this year.

    We look forward to our continued work and collaboration with MCE leadership and to uniting our students and programs in the future.

    With gratitude and hope,

    Your ABC Curriculum Team

    For Participants:

    Week 11 Reflection Activities

    Closing Remarks

     

CTA

Thank you Inclusion & Equity Education & DU DialogUes!

A huge shout out to our friends in Inclusion & Equity Education (IEE), specifically the DU DialogUes program, for collaborating with us on our facilitation materials! IEE provides students with information, skills, and opportunities for constructive engagement across difference. The facilitation training video, extended resources, weekly tips, and other parts of the process have been crafted or informed by our colleagues in IEE and DU DialogUes (a program of IEE). Check out their social accounts:

Instagram: @du_dialogues

Facebook: @IEedDU

Check out more of their work!

 

Thank you to DU Dialogues for creating our Action Book Club Facilitator Training Video!

DU Resources for Support

Mental Health

Please take care of yourselves and each other during this intensely stressful time. Students can call the DU Health and Counseling Center at 303-871-2205 anytime to speak to an on-call counselor. All degree-seeking students also have free, 24/7 access to tele-mental health support through DU’s My SSP: Student Support Program online, via telephone at 1-866-743-7732, or can download the mobile app

COVID-19 Resources for Minoritized Communities

Knowing that COVID-19 has disproportionately and deeply affected communities of color and other minoritized communities, we have created a resource list of campus support for your reference as our community navigates our re-opening in the coming months.

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The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) is committed to providing leadership, guidance, and resources in support of the University of Denver’s commitment to building a more diverse and inclusive institution. Here you will find racial justice statements and other learning resources.

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