NCRA Marketing

The purpose of the Towards E Pluribus Unum: Race Amity and The Other Tradition initiative is to shift the public discourse on race from the “blame/grievance/rejection cycle” of the past forty years to a cycle of “amity/conciliation/ access and equity”. Race relations in America will not substantially improve unless the public discourse on race moves beyond the blame/grievance/rejection framework, to one that recognizes and celebrates our ability to overcome racial prejudice through association, amity, and collaboration. Throughout our national history, 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 our nation.

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. Acquainting America with The Other Tradition provides another lense through which we can view the positive power in race relations that is terribly missing from media in popular culture. It moves us towards E Pluribus Unum, our nation’s motto.

Towards E Pluribus Unum: Race Amity and The Other Tradition is of necessity, given making the width of the racial divide, a longterm campaign. The promotion campaign is multifaceted and includes print, digital, internet, and radio and television annually.

The media used annually and samples of the messages presented include www.ncra.wheelock.edu, www.raceamity.org, the WGBH Mass Pike Digital Display and websites of Facebook: ncra. Print Ads include annual half and quarter page ads in Boston Globe, El Mundo Newspaper, Color magazine, display placards in 150 MBTA trains and busses and WGBH Magazine. Radio spots include WGBH and WERS, and Television Spots include WHDH, as well as promotional appearances both on radio and television.

Over the past five years the Towards e Pluribus Unum: Race Amity and The Other Tradition has resulted in the Boston City Council proclaiming the second Sunday in June annually as Race Amity in Boston. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino issued a Mayoral Proclamation establishing “the Second Sunday in June in perpetuity as Race Amity Day in Boston, the towns and cities of Brookline, Bedford, Sudbury, Cambridge, Amherst, and Wayland establishing Race Amity Day”. The Massachusetts State Legislature is presently considering legislation submitted by Representative Denise Garlick of Needham and Representative Russell Holmes of Dorchester to establish Race Amity Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Lastly, 20 colleges across the nation engage in the Campus Conversations on Race – A Talk Worth Having initiative.