BUFFALO, N.Y. — In the summer of 2020, protesters filled the streets of Buffalo and across America, rallying for racial justice after the death of George Floyd, Daniel Prude and others.
In March 2021, streets are full again with the #StopAsianHate Movement after the shooting of eight people, most of them Asian women, in Atlanta.
"Everyone has been schooled to think certain things about certain groups of people. Based on these stereotypes people have been killed, people have been hurt, people have lost jobs. It’s time we start having these conversations," said Kezia Pearson, an educator in Buffalo.
But how do you talk about issues of race? Where do we start?
A pair of sisters from Buffalo hopes to answer those questions and get this conversation started with a game they created.
"It forces you to look at your biases, your stereotypes. It forces you to do a lot of self reflection to determine whether or not am I on the right side of history or the wrong side of history and what can I do to fix it?” said Sarah Pearson-Collins.
The game is called "Pulling the Race Card", created by the Pearson sisters along with family member Cephus Pearson. They’ve been working on it since the death of George Floyd last May.
"It’s the deck that gets the conversation started," said Pearson.
To play, each player gets two cards, one that says fact and one that says fiction.
"Then a card is pulled from the top of the deck, someone reads the statement and you say whether you feel it’s fact or fiction," said Pearson.
And that’s where the conversation starts. About topics like Blue Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, white privilege and more. And at the bottom of each statement card, there's a QR code, taking you to an article or video with more information on the topic.
"I think once we have these conversations, will find out we are very much the same, we want the same things," said Pearson-Collins.
And in this game, there is no winner, because there is no right or wrong answer to each question, it’s all about opening the door to conversation.
Take this card above for example — it there are genetic differences among races, whether you think that’s true or not, you can share your thoughts with the group and learn more about what others think.
"And we don’t have to agree and we’re probably not gonna agree on a lot of the topics, but the point is having the conversations, we need to start understanding each other," said Pearson.
Each deck is $24.99 and you can buy them online by clicking here.
The Pearson sisters hope the race card game can start conversations with people of all ages and backgrounds in any setting.
"We’re looking to even market this with corporations with team building exercises, you can be sat around the dinner table and having that discussion," said Pearson-Collins.
Their ultimate goal--to have a global impact.
"We need to start having those conversations so we can start changing the nation—the world actually," said Pearson.
For more information, here's their website.
Pulling The Race Card Facebook Page
Pulling The Race Card Instagram
This story was first published by Taylor Epps at WKBW.
