Orange County middle school issues "21 Day Equity Challenge" to staff

Reading and materials referred to are from the Southern Poverty Law Center and various Critical Race Theorists.

An Orange County Public Schools “Equity Team Leader” has issued a “21 Day Equity Challenge” and presented it to at least one principal in the district.

According to one employee, the Equity Team Leader “loves” this challenge and is encouraging all staff to participate and document their thoughts in a “challenge log.”

The email detailing this equity challenge was sent by Jeffrey C. Faulkner, M. Ed., the apparent Equity Team Leader who is an 8th grade science teacher at Orange Middle School.

Articles included in the challenge come from the often-cited K-12 Critical Race Theorist Bettina Love. She is a professor at the University of Georgia and the “co-founder of the Abolitionist Teaching Network.”

Critical Race Theorist Ibram X. Kendi is also referred to under a section of the email titled “White supremacy is in the air we breathe.”

Also referred to in the challenge is Southern Poverty Law Center’s education activism arm, Learning for Justice (formerly known as Teaching Tolerance).

One of the activities in the 21 Day Equity Challenge is apparently for participants to create a “justice” lesson with their students using “Racial Equity Tools” and materials from Learning for Justice.

One of the “Racial Equity Tools” curriculum pieces is called “Transforming White Privilege” funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Here is the body of the email sent by Faulkner:

DAY 1: Intention Setting 

Happy New Year! Welcome to the 21-Day Racial Equity Challenge!  Day 1 includes some logistical information.  Daily emails won’t usually be this long.

“[Equity is] the condition that would be achieved if one’s racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares. When we use the term, we are thinking about racial equity as one part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root causes of inequities, not just their manifestation. This includes the elimination of policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or fail to eliminate them.” -Racial Equity Tools

We cannot cease to confront our country's history and relationship with race. It is time for us to take a closer look at the inequities that are deeply rooted in our systems and institutions and work together to create communities where everyone has the opportunity to succeed, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, religion, and identity. Over the next 21 days, we will explore difficult topics, like structural racism, segregation, and privilege, to learn how we can be champions of equity in our personal and professional lives. 

White supremacy is in the air we breathe. To live in this country is to constantly internalize ideologies, interpersonal dynamics, and structures that create and sustain a caste system of racial inequality that places white people at the top and Black and indigenous people at the bottom. We all internalize racism by default. But as Dr. Ibram X. Kendi writes, the opposite of racist isn’t not-racist, it’s anti-racist. Anti-racism requires active unlearning, questioning, self-confrontation, and humility. 

We all come to racial equity work from different racial identities and different levels of experience, so while we’ve tried to offer challenging activities with a range of focus and depth, we encourage you to seek out additional resources that align with areas in which you wish to grow. You are in the driver’s seat of your journey with racial equity. 

We also acknowledge the emotional impact that 21 days in a row of focusing on injustices can have on one’s soul, especially for folks of color who are also living it. We encourage you to give yourself permission to get a day behind or skip a day if you need. We include at least one lighthearted or self-care challenge item each day (noted with an *), because systems change is a long process and this is a marathon, not a sprint. To quote Black lesbian feminist Audre Lorde, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” 

Some Day 1 Logistics:

You can save your own copy of the Daily Challenge Log to record and reflect on which challenge you do each day. This log can be saved and eventually submitted as evidence for our school improvement plan and your own professional development. All blue links will take you to materials relevant to the challenge. 

Today’s Challenge: 

Reflection: Think about what you want to get out of this challenge. Write it down if you want so you can check in with yourself throughout. What are areas of racial equity in which you feel comfortable/knowledgeable? What are areas of racial equity in which you are unfamiliar, or would like to grow? 

White people: Are you willing to push yourself to be uncomfortable? To try to uncover the quiet lies you tell yourself to feel less racist? To ask yourself repeatedly where white supremacy is showing up in your beliefs, actions, inactions, and reactions? 

Option 1: Read this opinion article on “How to Make Anti-Racism More Than a Performance.” 

Option 2: Read this Forbes opinion article on “Why DEI and Anti-Racism Work Needs to Decenter Whiteness.” 

Option 3*: Get moving! Try out Black History Bootcamp, a 21-day walking meditation podcast series by Black women with seasons about Foremothers, Resistance, and Prayer, to do alongside this 21-day Challenge, or just listen to one of the episodes today.

Tip: As you go through the challenges, keep a list of the challenge options that you didn’t do but would like to come back to in the future. Who says the Racial Equity Challenge has to end after 21 days?

*One lighthearted or self-care challenge item is included each day.

Jeffrey C. Faulkner, M. Ed.

OMS 8th Grade Science

(919) 732-6121  ext. 30400"

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu

Related Reading:

Orange County Public Schools Equity Task Force homepage

Orange County Public Schools latest system to have conducted controversial equity training