“We are entering our third year of the “21 Day Diversity Learning Challenge!” As you know, it is thought that it takes approximately 21 days to break a habit. In forming new habits, with the 21 Day Diversity Learning Challenge, we can all learn how to get a deeper understanding of the complexities that surround race, privilege, and supremacy. As James Baldwin stated so eloquently, “The challenge is in the moment, the time is always now.” Use the readings, actions, and viewings within this Challenge to help guide your self-analysis and to think about what ways you can be more open to learning about others’ experiences.”
-Stephanie J. Calhoun, Diversity & Inclusion Committee Chair
The Bar Association of Erie County’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee is proud to present our ’21 Day Diversity Learning Challenge’, an educational program that aims to provide invaluable information and context on these issues to our legal community. Click the tabs below to learn more about the Challenge and to see the items for each day.
Introduction – Why Take the Challenge?
The Bar Association of Erie County is committed to progressing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for its members and the community at large. In 2021 we kicked off the 21 Day Diversity Learning Challenge and this year, we continue to put our words into “ACTION.” These past few years have been incredibly challenging. Our beloved city has recently seen its fair share of racial disparities—The Jefferson Avenue Tops mass shooting, the educational fallout of the pandemic, the death toll of the Blizzard that disproportionately affected East Buffalo, the list seems to go on. During the month of February, as we celebrate Black History Month, we invite you to take the 21 Day Diversity Learning Challenge. We have to continue to work together to learn cultural responsibly and humility, each step and each change we make can have such a great impact.
American activism became global activism as thousands of demonstrations and public campaigns were held worldwide. Meanwhile, the eyes of allies turned inward as they made long-awaited reflections on their own communities and internal biases. If we did not yet know, we have now learned, that silent allyship is insufficient – it is simply not enough to not be racist, one must be actively anti-racist. In order to decimate the racially unjust social constructs that have cocooned many of us for so long, such that they may never again be revived, one must actively work towards change and equality.
Where does one individual start when the issues seem so large and ingrained that one person could not possibly make a difference? They say that “change is the end result of all true learning” and self-education on the topics of racial diversity and injustice is indeed necessary to implement the changes that these past few years have shown us we so desperately need.
How the Challenge Works
Following the work of Dr. Eddie Moore Jr. who originated the challenge, participants are provided with various media formats covering a wide range of structural, institutional, and cultural aspects of racial diversity and injustice faced by Black Americans, to be consumed over 21 consecutive days. Though we are commencing the Challenge to coincide with Black History Month, you may begin the Challenge at any time. Be sure to sign up using the form below to let us know you’re participating.
All Are Welcome to Participate!
No matter who you are, or what walk of life you come from, the breadth of information provided as part of our 21 Day Diversity Learning Challenge should leave each participant with demonstrated tools to continue their own self-reflection and education, as well as resources to take and support a more diverse and racially just workplace and community. We hope that this program is both a rewarding and thought-provoking step on your journey.
Day 1: Begin the Challenge
- Take the Pledge to Challenge Disparity and Build Diversity. Click here to take the Diversity Pledge.
Invite friends, families, and colleagues to begin the Challenge and take the pledge along with you.
Day 2: Register for upcoming Events
- Black History Month Calendar | https://www.michiganstreetbuffalo.org/events
- Screening of ‘848: The Criminalization of America’ at the Campbell Student Union on February 15, 2024. Presented by Buffalo State University, The Minority Bar Association of WNY and The Bar Association of Erie County. Click here to register.
- Panel Discussion at 5pm
- Screening of Documentary at 5:30pm
- Light fare will be provided
Day 3: Buy a book from a Black bookstore or retailer
Zawadi Books
https://www.instagram.com/zawadibooks/?hl=en
1382 Jefferson Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14208
(716) 903-6740
Second Chapter Bookstore
https://secondchapterbookstore.com
Online book store
- Suggested Books: Black Joy & Black Boy Joy – Both available at www.secondchapterbookstore.com
- Buy a banned or challenged book written by a Black Author. Click here to see the top ten banned books.
- Recently, there have been discussions on books bans throughout the country in various school districts, read about it here.
Day 4: Support a Local Black Owned Business
Don’t know where to start? Here are some suggestions:
- Black History Month at The Broadway Market Opens Saturday, February 3rd
- Every Saturday in February, beginning Saturday, February 3rd, over two dozen Black-owned retail businesses will set up booths at the market, selling everything from handcrafted jewelry and clothes to cupcakes and flowers.
- Cake Crazy Bakery and Gourmet Catering | http://www.cakecrazybakery.com/
- GEM Yoga | https://www.galacticenergymining.org/
- Three Stories Coffee | https://threestoriescoffee.com/
- Unapologetic Coffee | https://unapologeticcoffee.us/
- Je Ne Sais Quoi | https://www.facebook.com/jenesaisquoibuffalo
- Black Monarchy | https://blackmonarchy.com/
- Black Owned Restaurant Guide | https://local.black/black-owned-restaurants-in-buffalo-ny-usa/
Day 5: Attend Black History Program Event
Day 6: Act
- Take the implicit bias tests on Race, Skin Tone and Weapons, and consider other tests as well. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
- Take the Ally Track education course and pledge – https://www.bbc.co.uk/creativediversity/allyshipapp/#/
Day 7: Listen
- OPEN Buffalo’s podcast https://openbuffalo.org/news/article:open-buffalo-podcast-relaunch/
- 20 Feet From Stardom (5 min watch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd_azcPNpAA
Day 8: Listen
“Buffalo, What’s Next? unapologetically confronts the reasons why the May 14 mass shooting occurred in Buffalo. Each hour-long episode is hosted by WBFO Senior Reporter & Host Dave Debo, WBFO Managing Editor Brigid Jaipaul-Valenza, and WBFO Morning Edition Host Jay Moran, and will amplify voices that have traditionally been marginalized. The show provides a forum for open, honest, and candid conversations about what happened, what’s next, and what role each of us can play in solving the problems that caused it”
Buffalo, What’s Next? Podcast https://www.wbfo.org/podcast/buffalo-whats-next
Suggested episodes:
- December 12: Buffalo City Ballet, and Lost Jefferson Avenue
- December 15: The Unseen Jefferson Avenue, and Art and Economic Justice
- January 13: Producer’s Picks
- January 31: Analyzing Blizzard Deaths in the Black Community
Day 9: Watch/Listen
- “We Can’t Recover From This History Until We Deal With It” (6 min watch)
- Striving is Bad for Your Health by The Dream (38 min podcast listen)
Day 10: Watch
- “If Microaggressions Happened To White People” (3 min watch)
- “Microaggressions Explained Through Movies” (5 min watch)
Day 11: Watch
- “Let’s get to the root of racial injustice ” by Megan Ming Francis – TedTalk (20 min watch)
- $100 race – privilege and wealth inequality (4 min watch)
Day 12: Get your CLE Diversity credits (pick one!)
- Plessy v. Ferguson CLE recording – (2 CLE Credits)
- Health disparity CLE – (2 CLE Credits)
- Spiritual Practice of Law CLE – (1 CLE Credit)
Day 13: Watch
- Watch the Goldman Sachs webcast with Richard Rothstein, author of the The Color of Law, discussing housing policies that shaped American cities in the 20th century. (15 min watch)
- Watch WKBW’s video on Buffalo’s history with ‘redlining’
Day 14: Watch
Day 15: Read
- Water by Jillian Hanesworth (1 min read)
- 12 Poems for Black History Month (17 min read)
- 1619 Essay on America’s undemocratic assumptions (5 min read)
- US business leaders are pushing back against years of corporate diversity efforts (5 min read)
Day 16: Read
- Allyship is the key to unlocking the power of diversity (5 min read)
- 1619 Essay on History of Slavery in the US (25 min read)
Day 17: Read
- Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure Of Black Girl’s Childhood (30 min read)
- How Black Girls Aren’t Presumed To Be Innocent (5 min read)
Day 18: Read
- African American Veterans Monument, Stories of War (5-60 min read)
- 1619 Essay on the US lack of Universal Healthcare (7 min read)
Day 19: Read
- There is Nothing Fragile About Racism (6 min read)
- Examining the Black-white wealth gap (6 min read)
- America Wasn’t a Democracy, Until Black Americans Made It One – The New York Times (35 minute read)
Day 20: Read
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City (6 min read)
- Executive Summary of The Harder We Run, Henry Louis Taylor (Executive Summary is 12 min read)
Day 21: Keep going
Sign Up
Let us know you’ve begun the challenge!
