A week after the U.S. presidential election I found myself participating in a Braver Angels “Red-Blue Workshop” at a church in Philadelphia.
My wife Susan and I had registered to attend this “depolarizing” event only as observers but when a vacancy occurred I volunteered to be one of eight “blue-leaning” participants who were matched with eight “red-leaning” participants.
According to the braverangels.org website: “Braver Angels is leading the nation’s largest cross-partisan, volunteer-led movement to bridge the partisan divide for the good of our democratic republic. Coming out of the election, we’re bringing together “We the People” to find a hopeful alternative to toxic politics.”
The three workshop goals were for participants to:
Learn about the experiences, feelings, and beliefs of those on the other side of the political divide.
Discover areas of commonaltiy in addition to differences.
Gain insights that might be helpful to others in helping to depolarize our community and the nation.
The four-hour event included a “Stereotype Exercise” in which each sub-group discussed and reported back to the whole group on the most common false stereotypes or misconceptions about their side, why these stereotypes are inaccurate, what is true instead, and whether there is a kernel of truth in the stereotype.
Later in a “Fishbowl Listening Exercise” the whole group of observers and participants sat in a larger circle as each of the two sides, one at a time, talked about:
Why do you think your side’s values and policies are good for the country?
What reservations do you have about your side?
Heather Blakeslee, the Philadelphia-based musician, social entrepreneur and publisher-editor of Root Quarterly magazine, explained that she is helping to organize Braver Angels in Pennsylvania, in part because polarized politics threatened her relationship with her own father. (He was one of the red-leaning participants at the event.)
My wife Susan, who is deeply concerned by the current partisan nastiness, told me on the way home that she felt relieved, that she no longer felt scared — because she felt she understood where folks on the other side were coming from.
Please check out braverangels.org.
Root Quarterly hosted this event as part “Founder’s Weekend”.
