Personal Equity Learning Journey, Part 1

At SVP, one reason we are committed to advancing racial equity is because race and ethnicity play an outsized role in determining kindergarten readiness and because we want a strong, vibrant community. One way that you can advance racial equity is to educate yourself and others about issues impacting communities of color. When we begin with personal learning and reflection, we can realize our individual responsibility, and better understand how we can work collectively to make positive social change. SVP Partners and staff share what they have been reading, listening to, and watching as a part of their personal equity journeys. We hope this will inspire you!

Leah Fox:

I recommend Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. This is a terrific, month-long resource intended to be a reading and writing exercise. The workbook invites readers to explore how racism and white supremacy are ever-present and operate in harmful and invisible ways. I've found this resource to be incredibly useful as a conversation piece with others as well as a source of reflection in my own life. The chapters are bite-size, but the content is rich and challenges readers to consider big questions.

Elizabeth Aguilera:

I recently listened to the album I Pray for My Enemies by Joy Harjo, the current Poet Laureate and a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. It reminded me that celebrating indigenous joy and indigenous futures is just as important as remembering indigenous histories! 

Bala Cadambi:

I am (re)watching I Am Not Your Negro, a documentary available on Netflix, for maybe for the fifth time. Baldwin is at the historical intersection of times, identities, and metaphors.