By Ann Lehman, Zimmerman Lehman
I'm exploring any avenues that will help Americans heal the wounds that divide us so deeply at this time. The good news is if you look up "Healing America" on Google, more than 200 million suggestions appear. People are talking about it. The bad news is there is no agreement or national consensus on how to move forward, or if we should even try, given the current animosities that run deep in the American fabric.
It wasn’t just the evident huge divisions facing our country (a coup attempt based on false information and four years of horrendous leadership) but a webinar from The NonProfit Times called "Executive Session: Nonprofits' Strategic Role in Healing A Nation" that led me to this topic. One speaker suggests that part of the path is to focus on "equity and justice." Other speakers suggest:
- Tax credits for volunteering.
- Anti-bias work
- Broader civic education
- A nonprofit office in the White House.
- Increasing competition in the tech world.
- Cracking open dehumanizing class and race roles.
- Diagnosis rather than real solutions.
After reading through numerous solutions (I will explore more in later issues), they seem to fall into four categories,
1) Changes that could be made on a smaller scale that focused on listening projects, such as the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, which combine profound listening that needs to be informed by deep political strategy. Healing the political divide from a psychological view also favors talking/listening programs such as those which mitigate the divisiveness is to physically by physically bringing people together in safe, highly structured dialogue groups, like The Depolarizing of America: A Guidebook for Social Healing. It must focus on our shared core values. And, it must also let go of tendencies to want to bring someone to your side of the political divide. People are married to the notion that they can change minds—this almost always isn't true. On a larger scale, Biden should work with Congress to create a national Civic Communication Corps.
2) Variations that focus on how technology communication forums could become less vitriolic and more accepting of difference, such as To Thrive, Our Democracy Needs Digital Public Infrastructure, or Electronic Frontier Foundation's EU Parliament debate: Is Big Tech too powerful?
3) Research-based solutions, such as MIT Center for Constructive Communication. In 2011, the University of Arizona created The National Institute For Civil Discourse (NICD) after the Tucson shooting that killed six people and wounded thirteen others, including former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. NICD started by U.S. past presidents (Bush and Clinton), is building a scholarly community of experts, that is, developing a research agenda on civil discourse.
4) Those that looked towards a larger undertaking by a government response, Healing U.S. Divides Through Truth And Reconciliation Commissionssimilar to those used in post-apartheid South Africa, that have been used here in the U.S.
It the latter that I believe has the best hope so that I will focus on that today. Social theorist and negotiator John Paul Lederach, author of The Moral Imagination has moved former enemies beyond intractable polarization in settings as diverse and challenging as Ghana, Colombia, and Northern Ireland. He speaks of the need to "re-humanize" perceived enemies. "Trust is the first victim of conflict," he says.
This counsel may sound a little touchy-feely, but it is practiced by America's shrewdest organizers as well as those with spiritual or diplomatic objectives. This sensibility also informs such work as the restorative-justice movement, in which criminal offenders and their victims acknowledge each other's humanity in the spirit of redemption rather than revenge. It begins with active listening and acknowledgment of common humanity; the recognition of common interests and political depolarization follows.
MY RECOMMENDATION
Advocacy is essential as well. Other countries that have made strides in addressing the political divide relied heavily on government-led reconciliation efforts. I firmly believe that Biden/Harris could propose a significant national commission-based somewhat on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
South Africa did this to overcome years of hatred and bias fostered under the apartheid system. Any such commission must have some fundamental way to address disparities and conflict on a broader scale, something along the lines of restorative justice concepts (which aim to get people to take responsibility for their actions). There would need to be witnesses, some of whom suffered human rights violations. Perpetrators of some violence could also give testimony and request amnesty. The Commission could call on individuals to acknowledge complaints each side has and be free to admit to bias feelings. In theory, be forgiven in hopes of coming to a better understanding of different viewpoints, or at least where they derive from. And instead of "live and let live- Let us live in peace with our neighbors" philosophy. Not one big kumbaya, not a correction to all that is wrong with the world, but in the hope, we could move forward with less hate in our hearts.
We will explore other ideas in more depth in the coming months but feel free to send me anything you see promising or if you support the idea for National Commission on Reconciliation, email me
