Before we start, this Buddhist temple in Seattle is heavily damaged due to arson. They have a fund to rebuild. This is an important place for the local Japanese American and broader community.

In past years I’ve written posts encouraging people to make commitments around race for the new year. They were good posts with important ideas to spark some action and encourage new ways of thinking. This year though, I am taking a break from that idea. If you’re looking for some ideas to start your new year, please look at previous posts – there are some great ideas there.

As we look at the new year, let’s be real – it is going to be a hard year. I don’t say this to be disparaging and meh, but to be real. 2024 will include a very consequential presidential election and court cases. Other elections at state and local levels will also have ramifications for daily life. Climate change continues to force us to adapt and change. Abortion and other important topics will be further decided.

I don’t mean this as doom and gloom. It will be hard, but we know what to do. Here is the 2024 playbook for advancing racial equity.

1. Accept the fact there is no silver bullet and there are no unicorns in 2024 – to advance racial equity and not lose more ground we have to do the work and call out racism in big and small ways.
2. Find your people, people who understand race and why it is important – find your squad and reinforce each other. Create these networks professionally and socially. Support each other. Start group chats, and meet ups to build connections. Laugh, work, and be good to one another.
3. Find your teen to 20-something year old mentor. Everyone needs someone young to explain stuff. They will roll their eyes at you, but at the same time, we need them to explain the changing world and to help us change our worldviews.
4. Register to vote and vote. If you can’t vote, encourage someone else to vote.
5. Pay attention to who is on your ballot and why it is there. So many important races and initiatives often get buried at the bottom of ballots, or maybe not as much media coverage because they are in smaller cities. It is still important to pay attention to these races. It is hard to learn about everything on a ballot, but pay attention and find creative ways to learn. A friend told me she gathered a few friends and they each took a few races from the ballot to research and trade notes. In Moldova, my fellowship group met with a (now) media influencer who uses her platform to share about elections and the need for civic engagement. Doing this gained her an audience and she’s continued to share what she learns about elections.
6. Read diverse media, including topics you wouldn’t normally gravitate to. We need to be generalists and have diverse thoughts if we’re going to find new ideas to advance progressive beliefs.
7. Pay attention to local news AND global news from diverse news sites. After spending time in Europe on a fellowship I now see how important it is to keep an eye on global news. I thought I had before, but I was only skimmed headlines and catching highlights on NPR. Now I make it a point to read or listen to a few podcasts of both local and international news, and occasionally dive deeper by reading books on interesting topics.
8. Choose something to do and do it. Racial equity advances have come about because of many small actions. The big wins are dramatic, but the small wins lay the groundwork for the larger actions to take place. Earlier today I was talking to a colleague about how we got race-conscious language into a strategic plan.  
9. Think about how something might fail or evaluate the failure. I’ve been reflecting on the practice of pre-mortems – thinking about how something might fail before it launches. Often times community projects fail because we only listened to a few people and we are wedded to one set of ideas. Pre-mortems can help us identify weak spots and slow down to include other ideas or other people who can strengthen projects.
10. Celebrate the wins. We need to celebrate and acknowledge the wins.

This is a playbook for 2024. I hope you come up with your own playbook for the year ahead. We have a hard year ahead, but if we are all working towards the same goals we’ll hold ground and maybe move a few steps ahead.

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