race card

plural race cards

1. derogatoryoftenThe invocation of a person's race in order to gain sympathy or an advantage.

   to play the race card

   1 more example

   “Was it because of his skin color? Or his skill?” he wrote. “We’ll never know, but always doubt — which on its face seems unfair to C.Q. But since he has made the race card one of his biggest calling cards, it doesn’t really much matter.”

   2025 February 22, Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper, Jonathan Swan, quoting Pete Hegseth, “Trump Fires Joint Chiefs Chairman Amid Flurry of Dismissals at Pentagon”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

2. hobbiesA printed card or pamphlet giving information about a series of horse races and listing the horses to be run; a racebook.

present singular third person race cards · participle present race carding · participle past race carded · past race carded

1. To invoke race in a discussion in order to gain sympathy or an advantage in that discussion.