National Center for Race Amity

Race relations in America will not substantially improve unless the public discourse on race moves beyond the blame/grievance framework to one that recognizes and celebrates our ability to overcome racial prejudice through association, amity, and collaboration. While the tradition of racial oppression was unfolding, a parallel tradition, largely hidden and poorly understood, was demonstrating some of the most positive qualities to be found in American history. This “other tradition”, of close collaboration, amity, and love has served as the moral and spiritual counterweight to the dominant tradition of racism that occupies so much of our national history. The other tradition offers a new entry point for the public discourse on race. Race Amity is the mission of our actions and object of our work at the National Center for Race Amity.

The National Center for Race Amity (NCRA) was established in January 2010. It is based at Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts and received its founding grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. A sustainable organization, NCRA’s programs generate income to support itself and its programs. The National Center for Race Amity has several initiatives: expansion of the Campus Conversations on Race model in a national network of colleges that employ the strategy of training student co-facilitators to guide peer group discussions on race and ethnicity; development of theater based race amity education programs targeting middle school students; impacting the public discourse on race through the annual National Race Amity Conference and other events and forums, and organizing the Towards E Pluribus Unum initiative which seeks to establish National Race Amity Day.