Archive for April 2025
Day 5: What is Unearned Advantage?
“For those of us called white, whiteness simply is. Whiteness becomes, for us, the unspoken, uninterrogated norm, taken for granted, much as water can be taken for granted by a fish.” ― Tim Wise, White Like Me How do you explain what the air around you feels like on a still day? How might a…
Read MoreDay 4: Talking About Race and Racism
“Oftentimes people of color are asked to educate white people on issues that the person of color has lived with and thought about for their entire lives. That can be very psychologically and emotionally exhausting for a person to then have to care about the white person’s feelings and to take those extra efforts so…
Read MoreDay 3: Understanding and Reflecting on Bias
“Worse than being less than you, is if you are perceived as a threat”– John A. Powell, Othering & Belonging Institute, UC-Berkeley The moment we started to learn as children, our brains began to help us sort information in ways that we could easily make sense of — big and small, tall and short, soft…
Read MoreDay 2: Racial Socialization
[Overall large blue rectangle with bold text on the left that reads: “21-Day Racial Equity Challenge”, with the United Way of South Central Michigan logo above. At right are colorful interconnecting shapes.] Racial Socialization Socialization is a process we all go through – it’s how we develop values, habits, and attitudes and learn to understand…
Read MoreKristie May’s article series exploring gun violence in Kalamazoo earns award nomination
KALAMAZOO — A powerful series of articles on gun violence has raised community awareness, prompted collaboration and earned a reporter a prestigious journalism award nomination. UWSCMI is one of six community organizations that nominated journalist Kristie May of NowKalamazoo for the Hillman Prize for Journalism. May’s year-long series, “Beyond Bullets,” explored the root causes, consequences…
Read MoreDay 1: How do you think about your racial and social identity?
DAY 1: How do you think about your racial and social identity? “There’s no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.” – Zora Neale Hurston Each and every one of us has a race and our experience of race shapes our lives and shapes our relationships with each other. For some of us, race…
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