Join the Wayne State community from 3-5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, in the atrium of the David Adamany Undergraduate Library for the launch of Wayne State’s version of The Race Card Project.
The project aims to hear, experience and collect real discussions about race, culture and identity on campus. Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to express their thoughts about race, cultural identity or an evolving America in six words. To display all of the thoughts, Race Card Walls will be set up in six library locations on both the main and School of Medicine campuses beginning Nov. 1. In addition, an On Location portal will collect cards from members of the Wayne State community who are not able to visit one of the participating locations in person.
“The Race Card Project is a unique and engaging effort that allows dialog and understanding about our current and future understanding of race,” said Jon E. Cawthorne, dean of the Wayne State University Library System. “This project represents the first of many more campus-wide conversations in the Library about difficult topics in our society today.”
The Race Card Project, the brainchild of award-winning journalist Michele Norris, started as a way to encourage people to share their ideas of race during a book tour. The catch was that these thoughts had to be shared in a six-word sentence on a postcard. Because of such an overwhelming response, the cards are now submitted and displayed on theracecardproject.com. More than 60,000 cards have been collected.