University of Southern California

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND | Beginning November 8, 2021

As SDA is actively integrating anti-racist practices and values into our curriculum, teaching, productions, systems, and processes within our school, we invite our students to engage and participate in our 30-Day Anti-Racism & Advocacy Challenge. Each day there is a different action prompt that you can read, listen, watch, advocate, or do and apply into practice.

There are prizes of AMAZON gift cards for the first three students who complete the challenge and for the first SDA Student Groups/Organizations who complete the challenge each week. Once you complete the challenge, please submit a Creative Reflection about one takeaway that you learned and will apply in the future: poem, video, collage, visual artwork, drawing, Instagram story, blog, or dance/movement piece. *Each week goes Monday to Sunday and reflections are due each Monday (for the next 4 weeks).

Inspired by the Justice in June initiative, created by USC alumnae Autumn Gupta and Bryanna Wallace, the SDA Anti-Racism & Advocacy Challenge was compiled with the purpose of providing a starting place for individuals trying to become better allies.

This guide of learning resources were curated from Anti-Racism Resources and 75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice. We hope that engaging in this work will continue to foster a culture of empathy and build a community rooted in truth, inspired to acton, and committed to awareness and growth in every facet of our School.

Click here to submit your creative reflection.

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30-Day Challenge Prompts

(Updated November 10, 2021)

Day 1	ACT: Register to vote! If you are serious about real change, your individual vote does matter. Register to vote, check your registration, vote by mail, get election reminders, etc.
Day 2	WATCH: “Let’s Get to the Root of Racial Injustice” TEDx Talk
Day 3	READ: Explore the articles that are part of The 1619 Project from The New York Times Magazine
Day 4	ADVOCATE: Participate in or fund a project facilitated by Leap, the Law Enforcement Accountability Project, a fund founded by Ava DuVernay that empowers activists to change the narrative around the police abuse of Black people.
Day 5	LISTEN: Listen to “When Civility is Used as a Cudgel Against People of Color” podcast on NPR
Day 6	ACT: Call or write to state legislators to require racial impact statements be required for all criminal justice bills. Most states already require fiscal and environmental impact statements for certain legislation. Racial impact statements evaluate if a bill may create or exacerbate racial disparities should the bill become law. Check on the status of your state’s legislation surrounding these statements.
Day 7	WATCH: Gather a group of friends to view and reflect upon Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th.
Day 8	READ: The Atlantic article “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?”
Day 9	ADVOCATE: Do deep canvassing about race and racial justice. Many Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) groups are organizing them, so many of you can do it through your local SURJ group.
Day 10	LISTEN: Listen to the “The Power of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Anger” podcast
Day 11	ACT: Support Black businesses. Find them on WeBuyBlack, The Black Wallet and Official Black Wall Street. New York Magazine has a great list of “138 Black-Owned Businesses to Support.” Yelp now has a feature to search for Black-owned businesses, and Etsy features Black-owned businesses.
Day 12	WATCH: “How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion” TEDx Talk
Day 13	READ: The Atlantic article “The Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying”
Day 14	ADVOCATE: Engage and participate in anti-white supremacy work, such as your local Black Lives Matter chapter, the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, the NAACP, Southern Poverty Law Center, United Negro College Fund, Black Youth Project 100, Color of Change, The Sentencing Project, Families against Mandatory Minimums, A New Way of Life, Equal Justice Initiative and Dream Defenders. Join some of these listserves and take action as their emails dictate.
Day 15	LISTEN: NPR’s “Your Body Being Used”
Day 16	ACT: Find out your city or town’s policy on no-knock warrants (the policy that led to Breonna Taylor’s murder). Contact your city or town government representative(s) and police chief to ban no-knock warrants.
Day 17	WATCH: “How We’re Priming Some Kids for College and others for prison” TED Talk
Day 18	READ: “The Intersectionality Wars” article on Vox
Day 19	ADVOCATE: Write/call your local government representative(s) and police chief, advocating for police de-escalation training. The racial make-up of your town doesn’t matter — this needs to be standard everywhere.
Day 20	LISTEN: “Anger: The Black Woman’s ‘Superpower’” podcast on NPR
Day 21	ACT: If you or a friend is an educator, buy that person books that feature POC as protagonists and heroes, no matter the racial make-up of the class.
Day 22	WATCH: “How to Overcome Our Biases? Walk Boldly Towards Them” TED Talk
Day 23	READ: “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”
Day 24	ADVOCATE: Call or write to your state legislators and governor to support statewide criminal justice reform — including reducing mandatory minimum sentences, reducing sentences for non-violent drug crimes, passing “safety valve” law to allow judges to depart below a mandatory minimum sentence under certain conditions, passing alternatives to incarceration, etc.
Day 25	LISTEN: Listen to “Opinion: My Father Stood for the National Anthem for the Same Reason Colin Kaepernick Sits” and “When Calling the Po-Po is a No-No” on NPR
Day 26	ACT: Check out this guide to responding to racism and bias toward Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, published by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project.
Day 27	WATCH: “The Racism Virus” town hall focuses on the rise in hate crimes while “Deported” is a short documentary about a little-known crisis affecting Southeast Asian immigrants. NBC Asian America has recently aired these programs highlighting issues facing the community today.
Day 28	READ: Read this article from the Learning for Justice Center that explores the Model Minority Myth, which explores why racism and hate crimes against the Asian communities are overlooked.
Day 29	ADVOCATE: Write to your city or town government representatives to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, as many other cities have done (including Los Angeles). Spend the day learning the advocacy priorities of the National Indian Education Association for comprehensive culture-based educational opportunities for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
Day 30	LISTEN: Listen to The Los Angeles Times’ Asian Enough? podcast, which dives into the identity and experience of Asian Americans. Each episode features a different guest, with Vice President Kamala Harris, Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi, and Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu.