Bridging The Divide.
This article is part of Finding the Words, a newsletter that delivers practical insights on the day’s issues.
In my office hangs a framed quote from the writer and activist Audre Lorde:
“It’s not our differences that divide us. It’s our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”
I put that quote on my wall years ago and read it daily. First spoken in September 1979 while Lorde was at a conference in New York, the words remain relevant and thought-provoking for me today.
Our differences don’t divide us.
Or do they?
In 2023, Judy Woodruff wrote a piece for PBS exploring the divides in America. In the article, she wrote: “For the past decade and more, it’s become clear politics has been generating deeper divides—not only over issues, but over culture and character.” She also noted that according to a Pew Research survey, “more than two-thirds of Americans today view members of the other party as immoral and dishonest. What used to be seen as a tolerable set of policy differences has become profoundly personal.”
Have our differences—real or perceived—become too wide?
I’ve been thinking about this question in recent weeks. Just as physical bridges are necessary to connect two disconnected bodies, the same holds for bridges between people. Martha McCoy called them civic bridges, and they shouldn’t be shortchanged.
Civic bridges require a willingness to close divides between issues, parties, and people. They require, as peacebuilder Dr. John Paul Lederach says, “the courage to start.”
Iara Peng started. She started a nonprofit called JustFund that is moving hundreds of millions of dollars in philanthropy to organizations that have been historically excluded from philanthropy. Eboo Patel started, too. He built an organization that brings leaders and institutions together to unlock the potential of America’s religious diversity. So did Tina Rosenberg when she and her colleagues started Solutions Journalism Network to focus their reporting on what was working in communities vs. what was broken. And Jenn Brandel started something too: a slew of nonprofits that focus on designing systems that better listen, respond, and evolve with their communities.
These people are just a few examples of courageous builders celebrating differences and bridging divides. They’re also among the speakers who will join us later today for Mission Forward LIVE, a half-day virtual event comprised of 8 impact talks to help you build bridges, too.
People of all backgrounds agree that something must be done in this time of political polarization, and many of you have asked for resources and tools to navigate conversations and bridge divides in your own communities.
Later today, we’ll do just that. Our conversations will be wide-reaching and connected in purpose: to drive practical and clear insights that help you and your team navigate through the weeks and months ahead.
The late civil rights leader Vincent Harding posed and lived a question, “Is America possible?” He wondered whether America's noble experiment in creating a multiracial democracy could work. Before he died in 2014, he was asked if he thought it was still possible to create a democracy that worked for all of us. He answered, “Yes, but only as we make it possible.”
I believe we can, and the people joining us today in conversation are proving it.
Grab your ticket here, and I hope to see you in a few hours.
This post is part of the Finding The Words column, a series published every Wednesday that delivers a dose of communication insights direct to your inbox. If you like what you read, we hope you’ll subscribe to ensure you receive this each week.
