“Empathize with what you don’t understand. We may all bleed red, but we don’t bleed the same amount or from the same wound.”

An AACC student who signed the name “Cassidy Jane” wrote that sentiment on a note card in February and posted it on a wall of the Careers Center alongside nearly 60 others. The cards, which also covered walls in the Humanities and CALT buildings, were part of a Black History Month project called Race Card Walls.

The campuswide display project, started by sociology professor Gina Finelli in 2016, invited students and staff to write their experiences involving race, using six words only. Each card has an extra space for any additional thoughts the writer wishes to add.

“The first time [a wall] went up was after President [Donald] Trump was elected,” Finelli said. “Certain patterns emerge over and over, including politically charged statements.”

The idea for the project came from black journalist Michele Norris in 2010. Norris, who won the 2013 Peabody Award, asked people from all 50 states to send her postcards describing their perspectives on race, using six words.

Students at AACC said the project shines a light on important societal conflicts.

“I think it’s a very important discussion for everyone to be involved in … for people to learn and understand about different perspectives and great controversies,” second-year nursing student Alayshia Florida said.

Third-year film student Sanyee Barjogar agreed.

“It expresses the mindset that people may have about racial injustice and how we, as a society, can take these opinions and figure out a good way to provide justice,” he said.