CLEVELAND — An effective way to build better habits in our daily lives is to challenge ourselves in the area where we want to see change.
And that is why the YWCA Greater Cleveland has chosen a 21-day Racial Justice Challenge as the format for its annual initiative that is designed to empower people individually to end racism.
The challenge will run from April 17 through May 15, 2023. Its goal: Help participants build more effective social justice habits, particularly when it comes to issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership.
Over the span of three weeks, new content will be released on weekdays and participants will log on to the challenge app on their phone or visit the website where they will be presented with activities that include listening to a podcast, reflecting on personal experiences and reading articles.
One simple habit that can inspire and empower people to become social justice advocates is to read books about racial and social justice issues, said Helen Forbes Fields, president & CEO of YWCA Greater Cleveland.
Reading more, she explained, can help people “better ourselves in terms of racial justice, to be an anti-racist and to really better equip ourselves in racial equity and dismantle racial discrimination.”
The YWCA is recommending the following books, as part of the challenge:
- “My Grandmother's Hands” by Resmaa Menakem
- “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi
- “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson
- “An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander
- “Hair Love” by Matthew A. Cherry and Vashti Harrison
- “Invisible Women” by Caroline Criado Perez
Participants in the YWCA’s Racial Justice Challenge are encouraged to align their efforts with the year-long Cleveland Reads campaign, by logging the books they read from the above list. The mission of the Cleveland Reads initiative is to have Greater Clevelanders collectively read one million books or minutes in 2023. For more information on the campaign, which offers prizes for reading, visit ClevelandReads.com.
To register for the YWCA’s Racial Justice Challenge, click here.