My daughter isn’t a “China Doll.”

Debra Cope,
Alexandria, VA.

Adoption is beautiful, and I really don’t mind helping others navigate the awkward preconceptions that accompany it. But this phrase just burns me because it equates my spunky, lively child with an object . She’s not my toy — she’s my daughter!

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"We are seventh graders at High Tech Middle Media Arts striving for change, so silence is not an option."
General Eric Holder, Modern day civil rights challenges
In The News

Yes I'm tobacco-pickin white trash

Who Will Us Be? with Anand Giridharadas, Eric Liu, Michele Norris, Monica Lozano & Paul Taylor

Michele Norris steps away from NPR to grow The Race Card Project.

Michele Norris & John Legend in Ferguson for, Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America.

In Conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates at AtlanticLive New York Ideas 2015

Seeing New York’s Invisible Children, New York Ideas 2015

Ta-Nehisi Coates reads from his new book in conversation with Michele Norris at Lannan Foundation lecture in Santa Fe

NPR's Morning Edition features: 'My Name Is Jamaal ... I'm White'

Gwen's Take: Race, Morning Coffee & The Race Card Project

Michele Norris & Jenee Desmond Harris, How we talk about race: What word choice says about identity

The Grace of Silence makes, The Black Lives Matter reading list: Books to change the world

Harvard Kennedy School Shorenstein Center Announces Spring 2015 Fellows

Norris brings The Race Card Project to Syracuse University

Ferguson Should Be More Than a Moment

Johns Hopkins University-A dialogue about diversity with Michele Norris

Norris speaks about race in America

The Race Card Project Partners with PBS for America After Ferguson

90.5 WESA- NPR Journalist Michele Norris Talks Race in America

Michele Norris is an Alchemist.

THE RACE CARD PROJECT COMES TO MSU

SPJ honors Norris for exceptional service to journalism

Is It Racist to Ask People Where They're From?

Invitation to a Hanging: Listen to the Interview

A Peabody for The Race Card Project

Pro-Publica: Segregation Now

The Race Card Project Teams up with ProPublica

Michele Norris leads learning opportunity

Norris sparks conversations on race relations

NPR journalist to deliver Blackburn lecture

Grand Rapids Community College Social Sciences Department sits down with Michele Norris.

Brooklyn Museum Joins The Race Card Project

NPR's Michele Norris Talks Race With Two Marietta Churches

40 years celebrating MLK at E Madison’s Mt. Zion

Race Card Project creates new type of conversation

Washtenaw students use The Race Card Project to confront bullying

Race card project spurs discussion

Cascade Engineering Race Card Project

Crossing the Racial Divide, Marietta, GA

Michele Norris' address at Sacramento State's Convocation
Peabody Award
Recent Race Cards

You’re Mexican, but your last name...?

White but my kids are black.

You're Asian, but what ARE you?

I am no different than YOU!

Chicken? Ribs? Or the combo platter?

We need each-other; tribe, tongue, nation.

Am I just what I look like?

This is our neighborhood too, sir.

Must I choose? ¿Tengo que elegir?

American white male=second class citizen!!

We're all different, and that's OK

I'm more than a white guy

You must be rich then right?

Bad time for Blue; Always Black

Can I say N****r around you?

Born white, Pakistani Heart, International soul

Opportunity to discover. Opportunity to misunderstand.

Is the ticket together or separate?

Becoming American, it is not easy

What am I supposed to say?

Stop explaining why black lives matter

Why I Choose To Use Other

I don't like pumpkin spice lattes

They are Canadian and won't tip.

Know this: We are all prejudiced.

What's the best Indian restaurant?

Don't bring that black girl here.

American Indians still exist. We're strong.

I like rice; one-eighth Chinese

From a white teenage girl's perspective

You see me in the kitchen

I’m so white “ginger” from Alabama

My Family Well Kept Secret Revealed

white white white white white white

You Look Like Your Dad

Human Spirit - Our One Equal Tie

Discovering others judgments after finding love.

Feel so helpless; solution's so easy

Race card played by the oppressor

Slavery is chickenpox, racism is shingles

I'm not what's convenient for you

White Walls, White People, Colorful Thoughts

Why must I choose a side?

Children look you in the eye

Biracial, one thing and yet another

Race is just a subjective word.

Mexican really? You dont look mexican.

You are smarter than you look

I hate fearing for my sons.

I see my intellect surprises you.

YOU define yourself; NOT your color.

Educating Myself on My Own Privilege

I guess I pass for white.

This is a (really) hard, scary conversation.

Yo! Biologically, race does not exist.

My daughter isn't a China Doll.

The Real Tragedy of 9-11

Octoroon. Daughter of traders and traitors.

White immigrant = not an immigrant.

Three daughters, three hues; whole family.

Pick 'em up & lay 'em down.

Stop saying I can't be offended.

I wonder what he's doing there?

Dirty roads ahead. We will overcome.

Strange fruit in a Plum Tree

I was always different growing up

Othering speaks against diversity -- rinse, repeat.

Wash your hands. Brown is dirty.

Mama said, It's alright, take it.

I knew one side of racism.

Soul Surfer is Light without color

Outside does not match my inside.

Dear Ebenezer Baptist: I still cringe

Dad, please tell Emily I'm adopted

Blond hair - can't use Afro Sheen

Why didn't we talk about this?

I was a white tobacco farmer

51 years of history was unlearned

I love love love my Blacks.

Terrified, we watched them set fires

White until someone tells me differently

Sure, call me a feisty whitey

Race is fictional; racism is not.

I am just different, not un-relatable.

The world needs more positive energy

Celebrate Difference, don't fear, don't weaponize.

Groveland four pardon. It's a start.

Past these Negroes - ashamed of silence

Hate is why we cannot wait

Small white girl, watching heroes march
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My daughter isn’t a “China Doll.”

Debra Cope,
Alexandria, VA.

Adoption is beautiful, and I really don’t mind helping others navigate the awkward preconceptions that accompany it. But this phrase just burns me because it equates my spunky, lively child with an object . She’s not my toy — she’s my daughter!

My daughter isn’t a “China Doll.”

Debra Cope,
Alexandria, VA.

Adoption is beautiful, and I really don’t mind helping others navigate the awkward preconceptions that accompany it. But this phrase just burns me because it equates my spunky, lively child with an object . She’s not my toy — she’s my daughter!

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