Every year, the Spokane Falls Community College (SFCC) Pullman Campus Diversity Club organizes a diversity event. This year, the theme of race takes thoughts and opinions about diversity and turns them into a play.

“I’m friends with people from almost every culture. I get to learn about their country and culture and traditions,” said Kyla Montgomery, SFCC student, Diversity Club member and actress for the show.

Many Voices is based off The Race Card Project, an event in which people were asked to fill out a card with their names, where they came from and how they describe race in one six word sentence.

Sharon Trautwein, the event coordinator and playwright, said students at the Pullman campus of SFCC filled out their own Race Cards. They turned them in as part of a script for the show.

“This is to take a peek at what race means within our community,” Trautwein said. “I decided the best way to round out this Race Card bulletin board is having a discussion about it.”

One of the differences between the original Race Card and Trautwein’s adaption is that the latter decided to keep the cards anonymous as to who wrote them. People were also asked for just six words, but they didn’t need to be in a full sentence.

The event will include food, a performance and a discussion about diversity and race. Rosalie Harms, a retired Pullman school teacher, will facilitate the event and the performance will be put on by the SFCC Pullman Campus Players, a group of campus actors.

“Rosalie is an amazing resource and person in our community,” Debbie Edwards, campus manager for the Pullman branch of SFCC, said. “The Players are some of the most enthusiastic students we have here.”

The main focus of the event is the discussion prompted by the performance, because diversity is an important conversation that doesn’t have a simple, black-and-white answer, Trautwein said.

“Diversity is a good thing to have in a community,” Montgomery said. “I think Pullman’s very diverse.  There are a lot of people from different countries and a part of different cultures.”

Trautwein said the event illustrates a topic being discussed internationally, and it gathers these statements for community building. She added that the topic brings together people with a range of opinions from those who think race doesn’t matter and those that think it means everything.

“This is an event to provide an opportunity for students in the community to come together to have an important discussion about this important topic,” said Edwards.

This is the SFCC’s second annual diversity event. The event is free and open to the public. It will be at 7 p.m. April 17 in the Gladish View Room at Gladish Community and Cultural Center.