HEART OF STEELE
They came from as far away as St. Paul and Rochester, as close as a mile from their seats, with one goal in mind: to have a conversation.
Minnesota’s chapter of Braver Angels brought 16 people last Wednesday to a long table in the Foremost Brewing Company basement. Eight identified as conservative, eight as liberal. The Red/Blue workshop’s goal, moderator Bruce MacKenzie said, was to get them to “see the humanity of the other side.”
“The most important thing for this particular workshop is to have a better understanding of who the other side is,” he said. “They’re being told they’re more divided than they are… They see the other side as Americans, and they have common interests and common ground.”
Roger Wareheim, general manager of Owatonna Public Utilities and a Foremost board member, called himself the “convener” of the workshop. He said he got interested in Braver Angels a few years ago, after seeing increased polarization.
“I feel that is the biggest problem we have,” he said. “It’s worse at the federal level, less so locally, but there are some local issues.”
Mostly, he said, people don’t really talk to each other; or rather, people only talk to those who hold the same political beliefs as they do.
Exercises during the three-hour workshop started with one designed to break down stereotypes. The Red and Blue groups separated into different rooms, with each composing a list of those they had encountered. I sat in the tap room with the Blue group; members came up with “socialists”, “baby killers”, “anti-business”, and “defund the police” as their top four among nearly 20.
They then faced two tasks: explain what makes the stereotype incorrect and find a kernel of truth in each. The longer I listened, the more I saw the importance of each.
It’s easy to dismiss stereotypes. Deep down, we all know they don’t represent every single person in a party or movement. What’s harder to face is the little bit of truth in them.
After the death of George Floyd, some in Minneapolis did want to defund and dismantle the city’s police department. An abortion does end a pregnancy–a potential life, depending on what you believe.
But these are also complex questions that deserve a deeper conversation, and we can’t have those conversations if we’re yelling and calling each other names.
I didn’t stay for the end of the event, but both Wareheim and MacKenzie said participants would be asked about keeping the conversation going. I hope they do. Because conversations like these can only be good for the heart of our community.