Founded in 2010, Michele Norris sought a deeper and broader conversation on race and how its conceptualization has affected lives around the globe. Norris’ mission has been marvelously successful, garnering worldwide response and recognition, as well as the George Foster Peabody award in 2014. The Race Card Project can be participated in physically and electronically. Lasell Stands Up, led by Professor Karin Raye, recently ordered 500 cards with the goal of having every last one filled out by faculty and students on campus.
“My students chose to do the Race Card project because they thought it would be a good way to capture the racial climate at Lasell College. We’re asking people to talk about their perceptions of race, their lived experiences with race, and really what they think I about race in only six words,” quoted from Karin Raye in a student made video capturing the process of bringing the Race Card Project to campus.
These Race Cards, along with boxes (crafted and decorated by students), could be found around campus in the Intercultural Center, the Center for Community Based Learning, Brennan Library, the STC, outside Valentine Dining Hall, and in various resident buildings.
“I would say this project can effectuate change, first and foremost, by opening the conversation on race in an interactive and supportive way,” says Allie Talarico, a Lasell senior who has been diligently working on the Race Card Project by promoting it to FYS classes.
When asked for further comment, another dedicated student, senior Molly Parrot said,
"I think it’s the way to start change. It’s a way to open minds and debunk myths or show people that certain feelings are not ‘everyone’s’. It’s not how you restructure systematic racism, but how you can make a difference on an individual level.”
Lasell College’s annual Symposium Day event included a 6-foot-tall box plastered with Race Cards. Students were able to walk in and around the structure to experience their peers’ thoughts and feelings on race described in just six words. The Symposium display structure was built by Jon Eroh, David Sheehan, Miriam Goncalves, Kaylia Clark, and Ishaq Alshehri of Professor Raye’s CJ323 course. The project’s goal at Symposium was met by sparking conversations about race between peers and faculty.
“The only way we dismantle racism and racist structures is to stay committed to the conversation and talk about race,” says Jesse Tauriac, the Director of the Donahue Institute’s Ethics, Diversity, and Inclusion here at Lasell College.
The finished product attracted many students and faculty on Symposium Day and Lasell Stands Up is proud to say that our goal of 500 completed Race Cards was accomplished.
