" />
Kaydee Gawlik
Combating racial misconceptions and prejudices are especially important given today's political and societal environments. To open dialogue on these topics, Union Activities Board held "It's in the Cards" -- in the style of popular card game, "Cards Against Humanity", players were given a black topic card with a racial misconception, and were challenged to answer with a common prejudice. After selecting the "best" of the worst, discussion and questions were welcomed. The event was held in Woodward Student Involvement Center on Wednesday, March 16, 2016.
As part of Diversity Education Week: Revisited, the Union Activities Board hosted “It’s in the Cards,” a game night featuring a new card game invented solely for this event.
The event in Talley Student Union aimed to examine the effects stereotypes have on African Americans in an engaging way.
“It’s in the Cards” was originally planned as a part of Black History Month, but was rescheduled from Feb. 24 to Wednesday due to inclement weather and tornado warnings.
Imani Starling-Brown, a freshman studying fashion and textile management, said she went to the event in order to show people what an African-American woman is like, in case they needed a better representation.
“I want to actively participate in Diversity Week because I feel like I can’t expect for cultural and racial climate here to be impacted if I am not an active participant in the activities that will enhance it,” Starling-Brown said.
Starling-Brown said she often finds herself to be one of the only black students in her textiles classes of up to 60 people.
“There are definitely times where if I say something people look at as if I’m a know-it-all,” Starling-Brown said. “I feel like that’s only because I standout already just because I’m a black person in a classroom full of white people, and in addition to that, I do speak a lot, and I speak very well, so I feel like that is something that people are intimidated by. So, when you are intimidated by something you’re usually kind of like negative towards it.”
The card game is modeled after Cards Against Humanity, a multiplayer card game. In the event, the UAB encouraged students to interact with each other away from the usual panel discussions and informational events.
“All of the cards are based off of things that students have said, or interactions or things that happened on NC State’s campus,” said Kamrie Risku, UAB Diversity Activities Board chair. “Everything that is on the cards or discussed at the event is based off of real- life NC State instances that affected African-Americans or other racial minorities.”
The event had a lower-than-expected number of attendees. However, the attendees and organizers said they were very happy with the discussions that were initiated like the issue of Black Lives Matter versus All Lives Matter.
According to Risku, the game will not be put away after the event.
“We’re thinking about ways to incorporate it so that there’s large numbers of people. So, we might let it be a resource to our RAs, or new student programs,” Risku said.