Attempt Number 2
Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 8:01 pm
Rip it up again, guys. Thanks.
I was born and raised in Flushing, Michigan, a suburb twenty minutes outside of Flint. Flushing is a predominantly white, middle-class town with almost no diversity and even fewer challenges to the status quo. I went to church, school and hockey, and everyone was exactly like me: Christian, English-speaking, heterosexual, upper- or middle-class and, of course, white. I grew up in the portrait of the American Dream, which is to say, American Privilege. Despite living twenty minutes outside of one of the most crime-filled cities in the United States, I was mostly unaware of the troubles outside my heavily insulated bubble besides the crimes reported on the nightly news. I went to a high school where students complained at the ‘lack’ of Advanced Placement courses offered; apparently, fifteen weren’t enough. Our teachers openly complained about having their salaries cut, despite maintaining the highest salaries of any school district in the county, and every teacher, administrator, and coach in the school was white. As a result, I had a closed mind coming out of high school, and I angrily debated anyone who had the audacity to disagree with me.
I was forced to take a first-year experience course during my first year of college. To fill this requirement, I took a class titled, “Intergroup Dialogue.” The first day of class, each of us was placed in a different dialogue; I ended up in a race dialogue. I figured it would be an easy class, in which I would be able to finally preach against the evils of affirmative action, fulfill a general education requirement, get an effortless “A,” and go along my merry way. But, something happened: as we learned how to dialogue rather than debate, I started listening to my fellow classmates about the experiences they had. About how they are watched closely every time they step into a store, how they grew up in neighborhoods that weren’t safe to walk through at night, and how few resources their high schools had. My perspectives began to change, and I realized how different my childhood had been from my colleagues’.
As the class continued, we bonded as a group, and we eventually completed an intergroup collaborative research project analyzing the factors of race within Christianity and the divide that exists between predominantly black and predominantly white churches. The professors were impressed with our project, and they asked me to come back to facilitate future dialogues. Since then, I have facilitated dialogues focused on gender and religion in addition to race. In each class, I oversee a group of privileged students such as myself, whether they are white, male or Christian. Another facilitator oversees a group of students on the opposite side of the spectrum. The focus of the class is to analyze the concepts of privilege within modern American society and to get students like myself to understand that despite Jim Crow laws being overturned, women’s rights making huge strides, and our First Amendment rights to freedom of religion, racism, sexism and xenophobia still exist in America. We teach our students the principles of dialogue, the importance of active listening, and the need for mutual understanding between two parties, even if disagreement remains.
I have taken these lessons to heart, and I am taught more and more with every dialogue I facilitate. I have worked hard to incorporate the principles I teach into my everyday life, using fewer debate tactics and more soft dialogue strategies. When I became the president of the College Republicans, I found there was a distinct anti-Democrat attitude held within the group, and I immediately sought to change it. I contacted the president of the College Democrats, and we discussed holding a public dialogue event, in which neither party attacked the other, but supported their own positions and tried to come to common ground. The event went seamlessly, despite discussing controversial topics such as same-sex marriage, the budget deficit, healthcare and gun rights and restrictions. The two groups, while still opposing each other’s views politically, now work together often, even holding a mutual can drive for the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan last year. During the fall semester of 2013, we are expanding our dialogue plans, holding a dialogue series, in which we will be holding dialogue events once a month from September through December in order to focus more closely on individual issues. Through the open nature of the groups’ relationship and the willingness to discuss our differences rather than point fingers, we have created a peaceful political environment on campus. As a result, both groups have seen an increase in membership and more willingness to get involved.
The concepts behind “Intergroup Dialogue” have altered my attitudes and perspectives and assisted me in ways I never could have imagined. Not only has it helped me bring two opposing parties together, at least on the University of Michigan- Flint campus, but it has helped me in relationships with my supervisors at work, my family at home, and with friends I may have disagreements with. They taught me how to talk to other people respectfully, and more importantly, how to listen. These are not skills relegated to the classroom or political realm, but rather, they can be attributed to any encounter with any person I meet. These skills will continue to benefit me as I move forward in life, law school and my career, and I hope to continue to use them to help create bridges between people and groups who believe they are too far apart to ever connect.
I was born and raised in Flushing, Michigan, a suburb twenty minutes outside of Flint. Flushing is a predominantly white, middle-class town with almost no diversity and even fewer challenges to the status quo. I went to church, school and hockey, and everyone was exactly like me: Christian, English-speaking, heterosexual, upper- or middle-class and, of course, white. I grew up in the portrait of the American Dream, which is to say, American Privilege. Despite living twenty minutes outside of one of the most crime-filled cities in the United States, I was mostly unaware of the troubles outside my heavily insulated bubble besides the crimes reported on the nightly news. I went to a high school where students complained at the ‘lack’ of Advanced Placement courses offered; apparently, fifteen weren’t enough. Our teachers openly complained about having their salaries cut, despite maintaining the highest salaries of any school district in the county, and every teacher, administrator, and coach in the school was white. As a result, I had a closed mind coming out of high school, and I angrily debated anyone who had the audacity to disagree with me.
I was forced to take a first-year experience course during my first year of college. To fill this requirement, I took a class titled, “Intergroup Dialogue.” The first day of class, each of us was placed in a different dialogue; I ended up in a race dialogue. I figured it would be an easy class, in which I would be able to finally preach against the evils of affirmative action, fulfill a general education requirement, get an effortless “A,” and go along my merry way. But, something happened: as we learned how to dialogue rather than debate, I started listening to my fellow classmates about the experiences they had. About how they are watched closely every time they step into a store, how they grew up in neighborhoods that weren’t safe to walk through at night, and how few resources their high schools had. My perspectives began to change, and I realized how different my childhood had been from my colleagues’.
As the class continued, we bonded as a group, and we eventually completed an intergroup collaborative research project analyzing the factors of race within Christianity and the divide that exists between predominantly black and predominantly white churches. The professors were impressed with our project, and they asked me to come back to facilitate future dialogues. Since then, I have facilitated dialogues focused on gender and religion in addition to race. In each class, I oversee a group of privileged students such as myself, whether they are white, male or Christian. Another facilitator oversees a group of students on the opposite side of the spectrum. The focus of the class is to analyze the concepts of privilege within modern American society and to get students like myself to understand that despite Jim Crow laws being overturned, women’s rights making huge strides, and our First Amendment rights to freedom of religion, racism, sexism and xenophobia still exist in America. We teach our students the principles of dialogue, the importance of active listening, and the need for mutual understanding between two parties, even if disagreement remains.
I have taken these lessons to heart, and I am taught more and more with every dialogue I facilitate. I have worked hard to incorporate the principles I teach into my everyday life, using fewer debate tactics and more soft dialogue strategies. When I became the president of the College Republicans, I found there was a distinct anti-Democrat attitude held within the group, and I immediately sought to change it. I contacted the president of the College Democrats, and we discussed holding a public dialogue event, in which neither party attacked the other, but supported their own positions and tried to come to common ground. The event went seamlessly, despite discussing controversial topics such as same-sex marriage, the budget deficit, healthcare and gun rights and restrictions. The two groups, while still opposing each other’s views politically, now work together often, even holding a mutual can drive for the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan last year. During the fall semester of 2013, we are expanding our dialogue plans, holding a dialogue series, in which we will be holding dialogue events once a month from September through December in order to focus more closely on individual issues. Through the open nature of the groups’ relationship and the willingness to discuss our differences rather than point fingers, we have created a peaceful political environment on campus. As a result, both groups have seen an increase in membership and more willingness to get involved.
The concepts behind “Intergroup Dialogue” have altered my attitudes and perspectives and assisted me in ways I never could have imagined. Not only has it helped me bring two opposing parties together, at least on the University of Michigan- Flint campus, but it has helped me in relationships with my supervisors at work, my family at home, and with friends I may have disagreements with. They taught me how to talk to other people respectfully, and more importantly, how to listen. These are not skills relegated to the classroom or political realm, but rather, they can be attributed to any encounter with any person I meet. These skills will continue to benefit me as I move forward in life, law school and my career, and I hope to continue to use them to help create bridges between people and groups who believe they are too far apart to ever connect.
