21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge©
Spring 2025 Version: Cultivating the Understory
At a November 2024 book talk, Potawatomi botanist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer was asked how she thought about the unnerving threat of climate change and sociopolitical setbacks facing US democracy and the world. She framed her answer around old growth - and the understory that will eventually replace it. We can cultivate the understory, was the essence of her answer. In that spirit, we offer a 21-Day Challenge designed to help us do just that. Below are resources to ground us both in the moment and get us thinking about how to continue building for a future where all can thrive. In the years, and decades, where life, liberty, and justice are under threat, we can and must do the work of cultivating the understory with faith that one day it will fully mature.

Choose one activity per day...
...to further your understanding of power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity.
Carrying On The Torch Of Resistance
"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Understanding the Moment
“If I had an hour to solve a problem, I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”
Albert Einstein
DEI: What Worked And What Didn’t ?
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.”
Pablo Picasso
Self and Community Reflection
“If we wonder often, the gift of knowledge will come. If we never wonder, knowledge will never find us.”
Arapaho Proverb
Envisioning The World We Want To Live In
“I believe that all organizing is science fiction - that we are shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced.”
adrienne maree brown
Strategic Action
“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
Frederick Douglass
The Art of Resistance
“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.”
Toni Cade Bambara
The Financial Factor
“The first step to solving any problem is to not hide from it, and the first step to any form of action is awareness.”
Mellody Hobson
Bring it Home
“The future which we hold in trust for our own children will be shaped by our fairness to other people's children.”
Marian Wright Edelman
Tips For Success
Organizational leaders, jump to #6 for inspiration
- Individuals, start by choosing which tracking tool works for you.
- google doc version for on-the-go tracking
- printable PDF if you’re a paper person
- Check out our recommended Day #1 activity to help you think about the connection between comfort level and learning.
- Diversify your habits. The tracking chart encourages you to use resources both across categories and learning modalities. We learn differently when we read, watch, explore, and act, so mix it up for the most impactful experience.
- We've included icons so you can quickly identify what modalities each resource uses:
Read
Listen
Watch
Explore
Act
Transcript Available
Closed Captions Available
- We've included icons so you can quickly identify what modalities each resource uses:
- Some resources are on subscription platforms. If you come upon a resource on a for-fee platform you don't have, just skip past it. We’ve loaded the challenge with free resources with that barrier in mind.
- You can do the challenge alone, though we strongly recommend doing it with friends and family, or organization-wide. Antiracism work is relationship work and this is a great tool to deepen relationships old and new.
- Click HERE to get inspired by seeing how institutions are adapting the challenge to meet their specific social justice focus
- Like our Facebook page. Use it to get ideas as well as share your 21-Day experience with the 21-Day community.
- Repeat the plan annually! One-and-dones have no place in the ongoing process to create life, liberation, and justice for all.
If you want to stay connected, email 21daychallenge@theprivilegeinstitute.com. We'd love to know how it went for you and your group!
Thank you for taking on the challenge. We’ll be right here with you, challenging ourselves daily!
Peace and blessings,
The 21-Day Team
Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr., Debby Irving, Dr. Marguerite W. Penick, Cynthia Pesantez