[ti:] [ar:] [al:] [by:¾Å¾ÅLrc¸è´ÊÍø¡«www.99Lrc.net] [00:00.00]And finally tonight: what we talk about and don't talk about when it comes to race and identity. [00:05.39]It's a subject again at the fore after the death of Trayvon Martin and the trial of George Zimmerman. [00:10.70]And it's the subject of The Race Card Project, [00:13.79]an effort by NPR journalist and author Michele Norris to engage people in a conversation about, [00:19.35]as her website says, their experiences, questions, hopes, dreams, laments or observations about race and identity. [00:27.44]And Michele Norris joins us now. [00:30.58]First, explain to us a little bit about what The Race Card is, how it works and what you're after. [00:35.46]Well, there are very short stories, six-word stories. [00:38.18]Six words, that is short. [00:39.52]That is short. [00:40.28]And it idea was to get people to open up on a difficult subject by not asking very much of them. [00:47.57]I asked people to share as you said their thoughts, observations, anthems, laments, whatever, in one sentence that has only six words. [00:56.21]And the idea was to create a platform, a place where people could say perhaps difficult things, [01:01.90]but more importantly where they could go to the website or use the exercise to listen to other people to find out what other people are saying and thinking. [01:10.10]And something about that compactness works, just the six words? You can't go on and on? [01:14.68]Well, what happens is, in the beginning, people would send in six words and they were often anonymous. [01:19.23]Then they would send in six words and add their name and maybe their location. [01:23.05]Over time, the six words like opening up a spigot, because people send in six words and then they keep going. [01:29.16]They are accompanied by essays and additional comments. [01:32.57]So, generally speaking, what have you seen happening since the death of Trayvon Martin and through to today? [01:41.38]Well, it's been a running thread through the Race Card Project, and there are flash points. [01:45.42]So, when it became -- even before it became a national story, the submissions started to trickle in. [01:50.32]When it became a national story, big spike in submissions. When George Zimmerman was arrested, big spike in submissions, [01:57.26]and then throughout the trial and of course with the verdict, big spike in submissions. [02:01.16]And you see all kinds of things. You see mothers who watched this trial and felt for their own children. [02:07.57]They somehow felt that Trayvon Martin's experience touched their home, and they feared for their children. [02:12.80]You saw people who would watch the trial and maybe they didn't condone what George Zimmerman did, but they understood his impulses. [02:19.73]When they see people of color on the street, particularly in their neighborhood, [02:24.75]if they feel that they don't belong, that they talk openly and honestly about the fear that they feel. [02:31.70]And a lot of people talk about the things that they wrestle with, [02:35.80]that they're uncomfortable with, the idea that people fear them, [02:39.00]the idea that they make assumptions about other people based on their skin color or what they happen to be wearing. [02:43.45]It was interesting because of course at the trial itself, [02:46.79]there was a lot of emphasis on not seeing this through the lens of race. [02:50.88]But, clearly, many people do in America. And that's what you're seeing on your site. [02:55.39]That was interesting, because the lawyers, particularly the prosecutor, [02:58.88]tried to say that this is not about race, actually said that in the courtroom. [03:04.96]And then we have heard from one of the jurors, who said this is not about race. [03:06.29]And as I look at the thousands of submissions that have poured in, clearly, [03:10.09]people who were watching this in their own homes and communities were seeing racial elements in this. [03:17.63]And so there is this thing that sometimes people think that just because you don't talk overtly about race that it's not there. [03:25.46]But, nonetheless, it does appear to be in the atmosphere. [03:28.60]So give us a few examples of the kind of thing you have been hearing. [03:32.70]"Urban living has made me racist." [03:37.00]"Urban living has made me racist." [03:38.72]This is from someone who moved to the city, and she lives in a multiethnic community. [03:43.67]And she says that some of the attitudes that she's developed over time living in [03:48.32]that community have hardened based on what she sees, and that makes her uncomfortable. [03:53.34]She is sort of buying into the trope of the hardworking Asian, or the industrious Hispanic, and, unfortunately, the scary black person. [04:00.88]And she talked really honestly about that not just in those six words, but in an essay that came along with that. [04:08.47]"Stop seeing my son as a predator." [04:10.95]"I pray for my son every day" came from a woman in Canton, Ohio. [04:14.79]She has three children, two daughters and a son. She worries most about her son. [04:18.64]And when he comes home to visit -- he's an adult now -- when he comes home to visit in their multiethnic neighborhood, [04:24.20]and he wants to go out to run, she tells him, please don't run in your own neighborhood. [04:31.21]Go someplace else. Go in a park or where it's well-lit, because she's afraid that if he runs in the neighborhood wearing athletic gear, [04:37.18]that people will see him and maybe see the same thing that George Zimmerman saw in Trayvon Martin. [04:40.98]I was taking a look. And fear, of course, is one of the themes that is running through here. [04:44.67]It runs throughout this, yes. [04:45.23]And people being almost upset by their fear, too, right? It all comes out in various ways. [04:53.74]Upset by the fear that they -- I was just reading one that came from an Ian Seer. He lives not far from here in Springfield, Va. [05:01.84]And he talked about he's a part of the Benetton generation, the generation that is supposed to be post-racial. Remember that word? [05:07.19]Yes. [05:07.60]That they grew up without all the burdens that previous generations have. [05:12.41]And yet he talked about he still -- he really hates this implicit fear that he has. So, people are wrestling with this. [05:19.14]But on the other hand, black folks, black men in particular, writing about what it feels like to step onto an elevator [05:26.97]and have to say hello really loudly to everyone, so that they understand that they're not a threat. [05:32.68]You also had though some people thinking that we put too much emphasis on race. [05:36.96]Yes, got a lot about that, one person in particular saying, "Stop exploiting to promote own agenda." [05:45.16]And the idea there is -- this is from someone who said that we talk too much about race, [05:48.90]that the Trayvon Martin case, the George Zimmerman case was just another example for the liberal media [05:53.65]-- that was the word that he used -- to drive up ratings. [05:57.90]Let me just ask you briefly in our last 30 seconds or so here, coming back to the project itself, have you seen a -- [06:02.86]what is your sense of the comfort level of people talking about these things? [06:06.92]Well, people are comfortable talking at least in six-word snippets. [06:09.55]In six words. [06:10.27]But this is what I really take heart from. A large percentage of the submissions come in, in the form of a question. [06:14.76]People are asking. They're thinking out loud. And that says something hopeful about the need for dialogue. [06:22.76]All right, the project is The Race Card. [06:25.68]Michele Norris of NPR, thanks so much. [06:26.46]Thank you.