where she asked people around the world to# send her a postcard, and, in just six words,## share their thoughts, questions, experiences,# and aspirations about identity and race.

The result was astonishing.

The# responses were vulnerable, honest,## and revealing.

And she compiled many of# the postcards into a new book called "Our## Hidden Conversations: What Americans# Really Think About Race and Identity."

And Michele Norris joins us now.

Welcome back to the "NewsHour.

MICHELE NORRIS, Au GEOFF BENNETT: The Race Card How have the submissions tracked this country's# racial journey over that same period of time?

MICHELE NORRIS: Well, when# we started this in 2010,## we were two years into the administration# of our nation's first Black president.

we were having a discussion as a country at# that time about America being post-racial.

So there was sort of a whoosh of hope in# the air.

And a lot of the submissions at## the beginning reflected that.

Only one race,# the human race.

Can't we just all get along?

But, over time, the cards got deeper, and# people started to share some of the things## that the viewers saw in the introduction.# The reason I ended a sweet relationship.

I'm## only Asian because it's convenient or when it's# convenient.

I'm white, not allowed to be proud.

And what we realized pretty quickly a# couple years into this is that it was## a little bit of a divining rod.

Like, you# could track things that were happening in## the news or in society.

They# would show up in the inbox.

So, Trayvon Martin, for instance,# the killing of Trayvon Martin,## that did not become national news for weeks# after he was killed in Florida.

We were starting## to see stories about people talking about an# America that no longer felt comfortable to them## or familiar to them in ways that we hear now,# for instance, at far right political rallies.

That language that has been almost normalized,## we were starting to see it early on in the inbox.# So, as a jou but it was a very useful tool for trying# to understand what was going on in America## outside of the headlines, what was going on# in really personal spaces in people's lives.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

Conversa but this book breaks free of that.

It# reflects a real panorama of race, class,## age, background.

What stories stand out to# you?

And did you pick up any through lines,## any points of connection among people?

MICHELE NORRIS: There were certain# through tell a story.

It's actually the# name of a chapter in GEOFF BENNETT: Right.

sometimes saying the same thing.

We have hundreds of cards# from women you're pretty for a, fill in the blank,# you're pretty fo you're pretty for an Indian girl, or# something like that, written in six words.

And so you see that sometimes people# are all climbing the same hill,## struggling with the same things.

But the# other thing that's interesting to me,## Geoff, is that none of the cards reveal# patterns.

They reveal the way America# is sometimes in conversation with# itself without even knowing it.

GEOFF BENNETT: In what ways?

MICH someone writes in about mugged# by Black teens, trust destroyed.

You get cards that people are talking about their# fear of people of color.

And then you get cards## on the other side that fall into some version# of, lady, I don't want your purse.

You know,## and so a card that came in, I'm not# intimidating.

You are intimidated.

And so it's almost like a conversation that people# are having across difference, across some sort of## chasm.

And, sometimes, it happens in ways that,# did these two people just talk to each other?

MICHELE NORRIS: And then there are# cases where people actually aren't## talking to each other, but they're talking to me.

In the book, there are exam She's white.

He's Iranian.

They# send in cards to The Race Card## Project after listening to a segment on# National Public Radio.

They don't know## that they have each sent in the card.

But I# recognize she's talking about he MICHELE NORRIS: And, years later,# I interview the two of them,## and they're like, you sent in a GEOFF BENNETT: In the book, you co untry is so often seen as the default, or,# as you say in the book, the normative identity.

There are a number of submissions that fall# along these lines.

There's one card that says:## "Being white is not a crime.

It's OK to be white."

There's another card that says: "Do# hillbillies get white privilege to What do those submissions reveal?

MICHELE NORRIS: Or another Those submissions were surprising to# me, not the individual submissions,## the volume of them.

When I put the card on the# -- when I put the basket on the table and I ask## people to share their stories about race, most of# our conversations about race in America are by,## for or about people of color, and they fall# along that Black-white binary that you discussed.

But even when that happens, white Americans often# have a bit of a bystander status.

The conversation## is usually led by or targeted at people of# color.

When I put that basket on the table,## I never expected to engage in a# 14-year odyssey of listening to## white Americans talk about race.# That was completely surprising.

And in most of the 14 years that# we have been doing this work,## the majority of the cards have# come from white people in America.

MICHELE NORRIS: Or we also have# cards that come from more than## 100 countries.

The majority, though, fr And that was surprising and# revealing and rewarding,## as a journalist, because it helped# me understand America in a different## way.

These are conversations that# I normally don't have access to.

And, as you noted, in some of these cards,# there's a certain defensiveness sometimes.## There's a certain sense that this# conversation doesn't include me,## and when it does, I'm always# made out to be the bad guy.

GEOFF BENNETT: May I ask what your race card say MICHELE NORRIS: When I first started doing this,## my six words w MICHELE NORRIS: Because I am# a brown girl that grew up in a## Midwestern state.

I'm from Minnesota.# I had a speech impediment as a kid.

A life as a communicator was not imagined for# me, in part because of who I was and where I## came from and how I presented in the world.# And I didn't see a track for that.

Didn't## see.

There was no -- there were no Gwen# Ifills on the air when I was growing up.

Over time, my six words have changed.

And it's# in part as America has changed.

We're in a hurry## to get over this.

We want to be post-racial.# We want to see the finish line.

And I think## some form of debate will always be with us,# because we're just such a variegated country.

And so my six words now are:# "Still more work to be done."

GEOFF BENNETT: Michele Norris.

The book and the intention behi "Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans# Really Think About Race and we also have to credit Kadir Nelson# for this extraordinary cover art.

MICHELE NORRIS: Yes.

Yes.

It's really wonderful.

And the -- I w so there are lots of photos inside.

It's a# ve GEOFF BENNETT: Real privilege# to speak with you.

Thank you.