Michigan school district promotes joining BLM protests, donating to bail funds in ‘equity challenge’

Farmington Public Schools launched the challenge on Nov. 1, and for 21 days, adults in the Farmington-Farmington Hills community were encouraged to visit each day's lessons on the website, do reflections on the teachings, and attend "Weekly Wondering and Reflection sessions" online.

"Scientist Dr. Maxwell Maltz says that 21 days is the amount of time needed to create a habit. Accordingly, 21 Day Equity challenges are designed to offer participants the chance to deliberately focus on issues of equity on a daily basis. By building an 'equity habit,' we believe we can learn how to more effectively understand and celebrate our differences," the website for the challenge states.

Each day has a different theme, with days looking at equity and equality, racial identity and racial privilege, perspectives from different races, wealth inequality, microagressions, and more.

Day three, for example, looks at the differences between equality and equity. "Equality is giving everyone a shoe. Equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits," the challenge states. Day seven looks at race and class privilege.

In a quote from Michael Kimmel, a sociologist specializing in gender studies, he states: "The privilege of privilege is that the terms of privilege are rendered invisible. It is a luxury not to have to think about race, or class, or gender. Only those marginalized by some category understand how powerful that category is when deployed against them."

Included in the day's lesson is a race and class privilege checklist, which asks participants to give themselves a point if a statement applies to them.

Questions include, "When I was in school, the majority of my teachers were from my racial background," "I grew up in a community where people did not have to lock their doors for safety," and "At least one of my parents has a college degree."

Another portion of the checklist looks at questions associated with social class and generational poverty, asking questions like "I can remember the dates and times of appointments without a calendar," "I can peel a potato with a butcher knife," and "I could find free, regular childcare if I need to work."

Day 18 looks at microaggressions, which according to the website, Dr. Kevin Nadal states that "Microaggressions are defined as the everyday, subtle, intentional — and often times unintentional — interactions or behaviors that communicate some sort of bias toward historically marginalized groups."

As part of the lesson, students are given a sheet to help identify microaggressions "and the messages they send."

It identifies "color blindness" as a microaggression, giving examples like "America is a melting pot," and "there is only one race, the human race."

It also states that the "myth of meritocracy" is a theme of microaggression, describing it as "statements which assert that race or gender does not play a role in life successes, for example in issues like faculty demographics."

Phrases that fall into this theme are "I believe the most qualified person should get the job," and "gender plays no part in who we hire."

The three-week program ends on a day titled "Time for Some Action," telling participants, "Now we can each take personal responsibility for making our community a more welcoming place. Let's continue to have this conversation and ensure that all of our students, staff, and families know that they belong here."

Participants are given a Personal Action Plan checklist, which gives students next steps to take. Included on this list are personal actions like donating to causes that support the Black LGBTQ+ communities, political actions like joining a Black Lives Matter or an affiliated protest and donating to bail efforts "supporting people arrested for protesting against injustice," and professional actions like speaking up when you witness racial microaggressions in the workplace.