Divided America – How Do We Move Forward?

Divided America – How Do We Move Forward?

White police targeted in a rampage of shooting, multiple incidents of black Americans killed by police followed by high profile news reports and outcries of racism, growing tensions across the country about our racial and economic divide. Like all complex problems, the place we find ourselves in the horrible month of July 2016 in the USA, is almost impossible to untangle in terms of how we got here and what to do about it.  I would not venture into this tangle except for the sense of hopelessness that is seeming to pervade the commentary taking place and my own belief that we must find a way forward.

How Did We Get Here?

• 300+ years of history that include a revolution, slavery, formation of the most effective democratic society in the modern world, a civil war fought to abolish slavery and a civil rights movement focused on creating an even more fair and equal society
• 50+ years of largely unsuccessful strategies to create that fair and equal society, creating ever-widening divides between rich and poor, Caucasian and ‘other’
• Continued de-facto segregation, some self-imposed but largely economic
• A culture characterized by lack of understanding and lack of trust across racial, cultural, and economic divides
• Boiling over frustration regarding continuing aspects of inequality and access to resources, despite progress in some areas
• A trend toward polarized either-or, right or wrong, good or bad thinking leading to a habit of blame and fault-finding rather than solution-seeking
• Easy access to weapons supported by a strong independent streak that has always been a part of this culture

Some Initial Reactions

Its relatively easy to generate a list of possible actions to take, as many are suggesting:

• Lessen access to guns
• Train law enforcement in conflict de-escalation tactics
• Teach children appropriate ways to behave in responding to law enforcement
• Rein in the media to get it to be less potentially inflammatory in its reporting
• Provide better access to mental health services with less stigma attached
• Continue to work toward equality of education
• Lessen the amount of violence on tv and video gaming

A Proposal

While all of these might have an impact, none of them is THE answer, partly because they are all part of an interconnected system of symptoms and causes that feed on themselves.  More importantly, they fail to address one of the most significant causes of the problem: the lack of understanding, trust and empathy across the racial, cultural and economic divides. They are all top-down actions, that don’t leverage the frustrations being experienced and don’t build anyone’s capabilities to address and solve the complex problems that will always be present in a democratic society.

Another way forward is to generate a nationwide program of local community conversations that would bring together representatives from all sides – affluent, middle and working class, black, white, civilian, law enforcement and policy makers – in structured facilitated dialogues with the goal of building understanding, trust and empathy.  A by-product would be a growing belief in our own capabilities to address and solve our problems if we focus on what we have in common rather than what divides us. We have the skills and capabilities to carry this out in a coordinated way, to build a foundation on which to construct a next chapter in our story as a true democratic society.

Please let me know what you think.