On a sunny Saturday morning, Anthony Blalock sat at a long table in the parish house of the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. He was one of 14 people who had come together to discuss immigration, an issue whose heat index only seems to rise across the country by the day, with their political opponents.
Blalock, who works in computer systems for a major Atlanta company, was joining a group whose members were equally split between conservatives and liberals. In some situations, they might find themselves hating each other. But here, with moderators John Schwenkler and Louis McLeod, the volunteer participants found a process that eased their way into conversation — and even led them to find common ground.
In fact, these gatherings are called Common Ground Workshops and are sponsored by the Georgia chapter of Braver Angels, a New York-based nonprofit whose goal is to reduce political polarization. Braver Angels is holding a number of such workshops around the nation.
In the parish house, the conversation started off as might be expected. The group looked tense. McLeod asked: “What is at the heart of the issue for you? Share a story of one experience or relationship.”
As each person spoke for a moment, a few preconceptions seemed to unravel.
“The amount of uncontrolled immigration has overwhelmed the system,” said Blalock, a Republican. It’s created so many problems in border states that are overwhelmed, he added, and residents near these areas are resentful.
At the same time, Blalock said a Venezuelan friend from his church was unable to get his visa extended and became unauthorized to stay in the United States. As a result, the friend’s daughter lost her scholarship. Blalock was clearly disturbed by this.
Sawyer Howlett, a millennial who lives in Clarkston, said he is one of the few American-born residents in an apartment complex filled with refugees. He voted for Donald Trump but he said some things are happening that he doesn’t like, vaguely referring to Trump policies. Many people he knows who work in refugee resettlement agencies have been laid off off as a result of federal funding cuts.
Credit: (Courtesy of Stell Simonton)
Credit: (Courtesy of Stell Simonton)
“That’s really hard to see,” he said.
Mindy Boggs, a Southerner with a big smile and a pleasant drawl, mentioned that she was a member of Daughters of the American Revolution.
“But I don’t care who your daddy is,” she said. Racial and gender equity and climate justice are more important than the Daughters of the American Revolution, she said. “All of us want to see humane treatment and human dignity for all people.”
The initial statements by each participant neatly sidestepped most — if not all — of the usual political talking points. As directed by the moderators, each person described experiences or relationships rather than opinions. At times, various listeners shifted uncomfortably in their chairs and appeared angry but at other times looked up with interest.
“If you hear the personal side, it opens up a world you never knew about,” said Schwenkler. It’s different from what you read in the news or hear on TV, he said. Schwenkler, a Hewlett-Packard retiree, and McLeod, an Atlanta therapist, are trained Braver Angels moderators.
The Common Ground Workshop structure was developed initially by Baltimore therapist Reena Bernards in her work with American Jewish and Palestinian women. It focuses on areas of agreement rather than disagreement, first touching on common values and then concerns that all can agree. Then it moves to policy.
Participants learned about Common Ground through various church groups and word of mouth.
The workshop had some important ground rules, including that the goal is to understand and explain, not to convince; and that communication should be respectful.
“We never allow bashing of the other side,” Schwenkler said. Sometimes people characterize others by saying things like: They’re all like this or they’re all like that, he explained. “I would stop that. That’s not respectful communication.”
The group of diverse opinions quickly found one point of agreement: The U.S. immigration system is broken. Remarkably, they agreed on some general ways to fix it.
They did this by splitting into partisan groups and brainstorming a list of basic values they thought the other side might share. Each partisan group also came up with a list of concerns about immigration they thought the other side might have, as well. Finally, they brainstormed remedies with which the other side might — just might — be able to agree.
They came back together into one group and struck off any ideas that failed to achieve unanimous agreement. Any member of the group could exercise veto power.
By the end of the five-hour workshop the whole group agreed on a list of policies, including:
- Create an infrastructure that can handle the volume of immigration cases that need to be processed.
- Tie levels of immigration to the needs of the economy.
- Hire more case workers to handle the backlog.
- Make e-Verify easier for all businesses to use.
- Bring clarity to existing immigration rules, which should be enforced or eliminated.
In a political climate of widening division between liberals and conservatives, this may not sound like much. But in a hostile political climate, it felt like a major accomplishment.
Credit: (Courtesy of Stell Simonton)
Credit: (Courtesy of Stell Simonton)
Workshop participants did not, even once, mention the deportations that have commanded more and more space in recent weeks in the news. That’s because these gatherings are about finding common ground, and there is little common ground on that, Schwenkler said.
The group also did not discuss the numbers of immigrants that should be allowed to enter the country.
But the discussion “broke stereotypes that people have,” said Rachel Effron Sharma, one of the most outspoken liberals in the group, an immigration lawyer who is frustrated every day by the difficulties her clients face.
“All of us are really diverse ideologically, but we came to agreement,” Howlett said.
Daniel Jacobs, an information systems auditor at Wellstar Health Systems who described himself as conservative, was surprised at how “real” everyone was. “It wasn’t exactly ‘kumbaya,‘” he said. “We came up with something actionable.”
That’s very much in alignment with the principals of Braver Angels, which will bring together the agreed-upon policies from Common Ground Workshops across the country in a report to Congress. Last year, it presented the Trustworthy Elections Report, in which liberals and conservatives agreed — through 26 workshops across the country — on policies meant to ensure election integrity.
One workshop participant at the Cathedral of St. Philip, Patti Parker, a retiree who described herself as a wife and mother and a liberal, summed up her view: “Our problems as a country,” she said, “are going to be solved at the local level.”
How to take part in Braver Angels
Find Braver Angels of Georgia at georgia.braverangels.org.
Sign up for emails about events in which you can participate: braverangels.org/subscribe. Yearly membership is $12: braverangels.org/get-involved.
Or contact Georgia chapter cochairs Barbara Brown, bbrown@braverangels.org (red); or Sharyn Dowd, sdowd@braverangels.org (blue).
Braver Angels-style debates and videos can be viewed at youtube.com/@BraverAngels.
A technique for individuals to bridge divides
Braver Angels teaches a technique known by the acronym LAPP in its workshop Skills for Bridging the Divide. This approach reminds people to listen carefully, acknowledge what they’ve heard and ask permission to offer their own perspective. The acronym is derived from …
- Listen to understand. “That really is the most important thing — active, heartfelt listening,” said Braver Angels moderator John Schwenkler. For those unconvinced that listening can help and unwilling to do it, Martin Naunov, political scientist at Northwestern University, found that people are more likely to persuade others when they bridge identity divides and have a respectful acknowledgment of the other person’s position. His research showed that what matters most is meeting people where they are.
- Acknowledge something the other person has said. Put it in your own words. If there’s something you agree with, you can say so. Don’t force it or be insincere.
- Ask permission to give your own perspective. You might say: “Can I tell you my view on this?” Often, body language has already made it clear whether someone is willing or not to listen to your opinion — so this step might not be necessary. If the other person seems willing, go ahead and state your opinion. If they’re not willing, the conversation could end there.
- Share your perspective. Be authentic. You don’t have to temper it. It’s a real conversation about two different points of view.
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