What’s your race card? That’s the question YWCA staff looked
at during an activity at a recent staff meeting. The activity was
based on The Race Card Project, by radio journalist Michele Norris. The idea is to write one
sentence - six words - which summarize your experience or understanding of
race.
There was a
moment of silence among the staff after we distributed the note cards and
explained the activity - a very long moment of silence. Staring at our cards, I
think we all had a collective brain jam. Talking about race is difficult
enough, but distilling it into a six-word sentence is even harder.
After
everyone had written down their sentences, we went around and shared what we had
written. Some were tentative, others enthusiastic, but we all had something to
say.
For me, the
takeaway from the activity was this: black, native, white, or rainbow, we all
have experienced something to do with race or racial identity, but we don’t
often take the time to process those experiences. How has race affected us?
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone says the word “race?
The activity was a great way to
take a second and think about what race means to us and what window we might be
looking through in discussions of race and racism. Take a second to look at what some of our
staff wrote on their cards as well as the Race Card Project website.
Posted by Juliana Rose, YWCA Missoula Racial Justice Intern
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