Take a Journey through the 21 Day Race & Equity Challenge
by Kimberly Scott
It was the summer of 2020 Covid had turned our world upside down. Our then President touted it as “the Great Equalizer” while he expressed his sentiments about it being the “China Virus” . To make matters worse another, African American man (George Floyd) was brutally murdered again sparking racial unrest. This time was different. People around the world responded in disappointment and outrage. As a pastor of a predominantly white congregation in Phoenix, Arizona I did not know how to respond, but what I could not do was idly sit back and do nothing. I went on participate in protests and marches organizer by the African American Christian Clergy Coalition of Phoenix. Yet, as the pastor of Cross Roads UMC I was still unsure how I would tackle the subject of police brutality, #Blacklivematter and the racist history that lead us to the current moment. How would I address these topics and not offend the majority of my white aging congregation?
Imagine my relief when one of my members (older white male) approached me and asked, “Pastor Kimberly what are we going to do?” “How can we become more educated, more well-informed around the topic of racism, #BlackLivesMatter and police brutality? With that I was affirmed in my need to not simply educate my congregation but to compassionately come alongside them and learn myself.
I came across a 21 Day Race and Equity challenge that Rev. Mandy Sloan had challenged her congregation at First UMC LA to take. I instantly knew it was the tool that would allow me to begin a compassionate learning journey with my congregation. The goal of the 21 Day Race and Equity Challenge (https://www.eddiemoorejr.com/21daychallenge), created by renowned speaker and consultant Dr. Eddie Moore, Jr of America and Moore, is to bring self awareness and educate persons seeking to become better leaders in race, equity, justice and diversity work. Moore encourages organizations to use his materials to craft a challenge that would meet the needs of your community. As such, I crafted a challenge that would allow my congregation and I to explore topics around racism (not just black on black), not just an “African American” or “minority issue” but an American issues. His material brings much insight on how race and racism impacted the founding of our nation, churches and other institutions in the US today.
As such for over the course of 21 days we took on the challenge of independently reading, listening, or watching resources from the challenge and then reflecting upon what we had learned. At the end of each 7 day Cycle we gathered together in community via zoom and shared our experience and dialoged about our reflections for each week.
The journey I went on with the people of Cross Roads UMC inspired a movement across the Desert Southwest Conference. Our practice lead to a DSC conference wide 21 Day Challenge that can be found here, and to many independent challenges and dialogues throughout the conference. At the congregational level I believed it not only brought me and those who participated to a place of greater self awareness but it also inspired us to live into our call to be a Beloved Community. Over the next several months the leaders of the WMJM will be working together to create our own 21 Day Challenge. I pray each of you will be willing to join us in the work.