On Feb. 11 at the South City Campus Grand Theatre from 7-9 p.m., Michele Norris of NPR news and founder of The Race Card Project will speak to students and members of the community. Her project began as a way for people to talk about race and identity.
Norris asked participants to take their thoughts and feelings and condense them into a six word sentence. Her website now has a Race Card Wall full of thoughts and has spread throughout the country and around the world.
“As [Norris] was traveling the country, she noticed that people had a lot of very different views about race that you don’t often think about or hear about,” says Director of SLCC Community Writing Center and Assistant Professor Andrea Malouf. “People sometimes silence themselves when it comes to talking about race.”
Race cards come in all forms, both negative and positive, and give people the chance to talk about what race and race equality means to them.
“[Race is] more about that celebration of our differences and not using our differences to divide. Our differences can be something to build upon and value rather than to fear and destroy,” says School of Arts, Communication and New Media Interim Dean Richard Scott.
SLCC has its own Race Card Wall at the Thayne Center on the Taylorsville Redwood Campus, and everyone is encouraged to write something on it.
Events
Michele Norris
Tuesday, Feb. 11 7-9 p.m. – Race Card Project, South City Campus, The Grand Theatre
Frankie Condon
Thursday, Feb. 27 at 2:30 p.m. – College-Wide Race Conversation, Oak Room, Taylorsville Redwood Campus
Friday, Feb. 28 at 9:00 a.m. – Writing Center workshop at the SLCC Community Writing Center.
Friday, Feb. 28 at 1 p.m. – Teaching Circle workshop in IAB135 at Taylorsville Redwood Campus
The SLCC Writing Center is going a bit further and asking students to write longer versions about their thoughts on race for an anthology. Submissions are due Feb. 15 and can include works such as poetry, fiction, memoirs and essays.
The pieces will be on display at the Art Barn from March 13-May 3. Those who submit to the anthology will have the opportunity to read their pieces as part of Race: Perspectives and Anthology on April 23, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Salt Lake City Public Library.
As part of Black History Month, Frankie Condon will be visiting the college to talk about race. A college-wide conversation will be held in the Oak Room at the Taylorsville Redwood Campus on Feb. 27 at 2:30 p.m. Condon is an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada and studies the discourses of race and racism.
Follow Rachael on Twitter: @TheRachEF
