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Earlier this year, Elizabeth Behrens and Corregan Brown led a course in the Be the Bridge Academy entitled “Politics as Bridge Builders.” They discussed how the history of our political divides, the nature of conflict and styles of conflict, and the neuroscience behind conflict and debate in order to have more productive conversations. It was a fantastic course!
As we navigate election day in the United States, Elizabeth and Corregan share some ways to stay grounded, stay engaged, and stay hopeful. Even today, we can be bridge builders!
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Host & Executive Producer – Latasha Morrison
Producer – Sarah Connatser
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Not all views expressed in this interview reflect the values and beliefs of Latasha Morrison or the Be the Bridge organization.
*this was transcribed by Spotify and has not been checked for errors
0:00
Welcome to the Be the Bridge podcast.
Be the Bridge exists to empower people and culture toward racial healing, equity, and reconciliation.
Latasha Morrison founded Be the Bridge in 2016 to foster needed dialogue and brave spaces and to give people the tools to pursue racial justice.
0:22
We provide resources and community to do just that, and this podcast is one of those resources.
You’ll hear interviews hosted by Latasha and our team, conversations about current events, and encouragement for your racial literacy journey.
Thank you for listening, subscribing and engaging in this important work.
0:44
Welcome everyone.
Thanks for tuning into the Be the Bridge podcast.
I am Elizabeth Behrens and I am a member of the training team here at Be the Bridge, and I am excited to be joined today by a dear friend of mine who we’ve got to work together as well, Corrigan Brown.
1:04
And we’re going to talk a little bit about it being Election Day today.
So Corrigan, why don’t you introduce yourself?
Sure.
Thanks, Elizabeth.
I’m Corrigan Brown.
I am a general purpose volunteer and occasional adjunct faculty at Be the Bridge, and by day I do technology and by day and night I try to build occasional bridges.
1:24
Absolutely, absolutely.
Well, since it is Election Day, a day that has, there’s been so much build up to it, right?
Especially here in the US, our election season tends to be more than long.
You know, a lot of countries in the world, they they wrap these things up in a month or two.
1:41
We like to make a whole hobby out of it, it seems.
But it is Election Day today.
So the first thing we want to just recommend, if you haven’t yet, please go vote there are, you know, looking historically the the amount of work and fight that went into Americans being able to have that right, other than the original people.
2:02
Given that right here in the country.
It’s a it’s a great thing to to make use of it, a great way to actually engage in bridge building in in a whole different way that you don’t usually get to do every day.
Corrigan your thoughts on that too.
Yeah, absolutely.
2:19
It’s also important to note that if you have a job that spans the voting day, many states have a law that allows you to have two hours to vote.
So not only do you have the right to vote, you have the right to leave work to vote.
2:36
Check your state laws to see exactly how that works, if that’s a thing for you.
In some states, like Georgia, you get the two hours, but the employer gets to decide what those two hours are.
Other states, you may just be able to go and say, hey, I’ll be back in a couple of hours, so just check on that.
2:52
But the thing that is important is, if you haven’t already, to go gone to vote, it is really critical that you get out there and make your voice heard.
Every vote does count.
Yeah, absolutely.
And as I say every Election Day, you do not have to get out of line just because the polls closed.
3:09
If you’re there at the end of the evening, the polling place has to stay open for people that got in line before those polls closed.
So make sure you stay in line so you can still get your vote registered.
But beyond those logistical things, I think it’s important that we also start with honoring how we’re feeling right now, right.
3:31
There’s, you know, bridge building work isn’t just academic work.
It’s not just, you know, getting out and doing the things work.
It’s also emotional work.
And it’s it’s processing and giving our ourselves space to to feel how we feel.
And in with such a contentious election, I think there’s a lot of a lot of feelings out there.
3:50
Yeah, it’s emotions are high.
We are polarized in a lot of ways, and we really feel like there are catastrophic and cataclysmic immediate consequences to us not getting our way in an electoral, whether that’s at the top of the ballot or whether that’s local.
4:08
And so I think while it’s important for us to be honest about that anxiety, it’s also important for us to find ways to engage that.
One thing that’s helpful for me is actually dealing with my immediate neighbors and remembering that I live in local context.
4:29
So the national views I I espouse matter.
The regional views I espouse matter.
But what I’m experiencing day-to-day is how I show up in my neighborhood, how I show up in my local community, who I meet at the grocery store.
And I think getting grounded with that, even the people I may have differences of political opinion with.
4:49
We can sit and have a delicious non alcoholic beverage on the front of my porch or in my driveway and have great conversation.
And so thinking about ways to stay calm in this season and really to nurture those impulses of what you know is good is essential.
5:09
I love that, yeah, connecting with, reminding ourselves that it’s actually other humans out there voting who have lots of reasons they feel the way that they feel, but also realizing, hey, if I’m cluing into like how high my anxiety is, I know that I have ways to process that.
5:28
I know that I have healthy things I can engage in.
I promise that watching minute to minute news coverage of exit polling and early states coming, like that’s for sure not going to lessen my anxiety.
So giving myself space to say, you know what, this, this heightened level of engagement doesn’t change the outcome.
5:49
It doesn’t make me feel any better.
It doesn’t help me love my neighbor better.
And the reality is it’s really unlikely that we will know the results today like it is.
I if you remember the last presidential election, it took several days before and it was several days if I felt like the news was just on constantly in the background waiting for that last couple state announcements and things.
6:13
So, so thinking that staying up until all hours tonight and to see a result will get you anywhere, but being really tired and still not knowing the answer, It’s kind of that’s kind of where we are with elections right now.
So it is OK today to decide I’m going to unplug.
6:31
I’m going to go, I’m going to go for a hike.
I’m going to get outside and enjoy some fresh air.
I’m going to, you know, whatever it is that can kind of help bring down the anxiety or dial things back a bit.
I think it’s a really good idea today.
Yeah, I agree.
6:47
And I think that even if you have this urge that you can’t shake to try to make more of an impact than your vote, there are other things you can do.
You can help to bring people to the polls who have trouble get to the polls.
You can watch a friend or a neighbor, there’s kids for them while they go vote.
They’re just a number of ways that you can engage locally to get that impulse out to make a difference without being kind of self-destructive.
7:13
I’ll be really honest, I’ve made a practice of watching very little of the horse race coverage.
I generally have awareness of the respective platform positions.
I generally know how I’m going to vote.
And so watching my preferred candidate dodge slings and arrows are watching my not preferred candidate, you know, say or do things that irritate me.
7:39
That’s not helping anything.
So I’m, I’m, you know, I’m making sure I’m getting my data.
I want to be an informed voter, but once I’ve got my data, I don’t have to watch News 24 hours a day just because it’s available.
Absolutely.
You know, I also love to say that, you know, it’s easy, I think sometimes to feel like, well, if, if my candidate wins or if my side of the aisle gets to have the larger side of the aisle, then then like who now I can now I can relax.
8:09
Or like, it’s like, the reality is that there is work to, to be done regardless of who ends up in office, regardless of who sits at that highest office or who has control of the Senate or the House or, or whatever it is there, there is no candidate that is, that is a savior, right?
8:25
There is no candidate that’s going to usher in the future that we hope for.
Rather, I like to think of, OK, which, which candidates do I feel like I can help do I think will get us closer, right?
Or once they’re in office, I can then encourage and push and, you know, advocate for, for things that actually get us closer to where we want to be.
8:46
So, so not feeling like we can sit back and relax just because one party or the other is in power.
The other thing I think is key is, you know, there’s so nice people think about bridge building and they think it’s like, you know, everyone just like come together and hold hands and it’s, you know, we’re just going to pretend the divides don’t exist or something.
9:07
It’s like, it’s like, no, the bridge actually covers a pretty big chasm.
Like, and that chasm is really, really visible right now.
And part of like bridge building in the, in the realm of voting is to know that that our, our votes really mean something to the people around us as well, right?
9:26
Like it is not just, well, I happen to align with this side and you happen to align with that side.
And now we’re just going to come together because the voting is done and we’ll see what happens.
But rather, for a lot of people there is especially for marginalized communities or people that marginalized identity, if they feel like, hey, I feel like you’re praying for me on Sunday and voting against me on Tuesday, That’s going to feel some sort of way to people and giving people space to feel that because that’s that’s not nothing right to if you know, voting for someone who you feel is going to take away rights or dismantle protections or things like it would be OK for someone to be, to be hurt if they felt like that was something you were OK with.
10:10
Yeah, one of my favorite lines from the Bible.
I cannot remember the chapter in verse, I think it was, and Jeremiah.
But it was like talking about people who cry peace, peace when there is no peace.
And I think it’s important as we’re trying to figure out how to come together.
10:27
Election seasons can be divisive as we’re trying to figure out how to come together, holding space for other points of view and holding your own vulnerability.
It is one thing to say, you know, I think policy X harms children and it’s bad and, and candidate A who supports policy X is bad.
10:45
It’s another thing to go.
You know, I’m really scared for what happens to my children in school when this, when this thing happens.
And I’m just, you know, I don’t want to be cruel or mean to anyone, but I just, I’m worried about this thing.
And when you’re starting from that place of vulnerability and you’re starting from, help me understand.
11:06
Help me understand why this isn’t a threat, right?
Help me understand a different way of looking at it.
Then we actually can come together an open space for us to have conversations from a place of data and from a place of care.
And then this is not not, this is not when people are vulnerable.
11:25
It’s not an invitation for you to bludgeon them over the head with all the facts that you require.
It’s not for you to go.
I can imagine having a child in that situation and not being sure what will happen is really scary, right?
But here are some things that I think have been said in research, and you could kind of introduce that data, but you gotta, you know, Mary Poppins, a spoonful of sugar helps them go down that spoonful of sugar in there as you’re giving the medicine.
11:54
Absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah.
It like, you know, we talked to the last time we talked about politics on the podcast here, you know, the, the importance of storytelling over spewing facts at people to say, you know, like, Hey, this is, this is how this feels for me.
Here is how I experience this person or these policies or here’s here are the things I’m worried about and here’s why, because here’s how it’s personal for me.
12:18
Like though that’s a really different than like, did you know that 73% of you know, it’s like you lose people there.
But as people, we tend to care about other people more than we care about big facts or crowds is the reality, right?
Like I, it’s hard to feel emotionally connected to a crowd of people versus someone that I know personally and someone that I, I can, I can see how that affects them.
12:41
So, you know, last thing before we leave everyone to go get outside and to disconnect from the Internet would just say that, you know, once all the votes have been cast and we see how deep the divides are in the country, like Election Day always really brings that to the forefront.
13:02
We will need to look for bridge builders.
There’s the Mr. Rogers quote, like look for the helpers.
In this case, I want to say look for the bridge builders.
Look for people who are doing work, not just to pull everyone together and gloss over that difference, but rather to say who’s doing healing work here?
13:20
Who is doing work of excavating where those where that divide comes from?
Who’s doing work to say, OK, maybe we have these really big policy differences, but where, where are some principles behind those where we can come together and and actually have a healthy conversation?
13:37
So they find out who is acknowledging the divide and who’s doing actual real helpful work to to build that bridge, to get over, to have that chasm of people come, be able to come together and work together.
Absolutely, if you have a passion for it, this could be you.
13:55
Not trying to give you an assignment, but there are opportunities to have those delicious beverage laden conversations with your neighbors from that place of bridge building.
Yeah, absolutely.
Sharing stories, attempting to coming into it less of how do I convince my neighbor they should have voted for XYZ, but rather what don’t I understand about my neighbor’s lived experience that would help me make sense of how they voted or why they feel the way they feel.
14:29
Because when we come into it curious rather than coming into it with an agenda kind of a lot better, a lot better bridge building conversations.
Yeah, yeah.
And there’s one other thing I want to say, Elizabeth, as well, which is voting is the beginning of participation.
It is not the end.
We frequently treat, especially presidential elections as a time when we’re all supposed to go.
14:50
And I’ve done my civic duty, checked out for at least two years, possibly 4.
This is a time when we can not only make our preferences heard, but we can follow that up.
I, I need to update it because my district’s change, but I keep my Congress people’s numbers in my phone under my representatives and I can call them anytime.
15:13
And there are people who are paid to sit there all day and take notes about what you care about.
And if enough people call, no matter what the issue is or what the stance is, if enough people call and express the same concern who are constituents, they will listen.
15:31
We will take that into account and go, hey, my policy slate is over here, but my constituents are over here.
I’m going to have to find a way to thread that needle at least, if not go straight to what they say.
So I, I think that there is this sense of disconnection and hopelessness that we have sometimes around politics, but it is actually quite possible to engage your federal representatives, let alone your state representative.
15:58
State representatives love to hear from you.
Oh, yeah, we call, there’s a really long way there.
So, so you can, you can make a difference in your community just by expressing your opinions on an ongoing regular basis to them and starting to build those relationships.
And that doesn’t have to be hard.
16:14
That can be a call on the way to work once a week.
I love that.
I love that.
Absolutely.
All right.
Well, with that, everyone, get yourself outside, get do the things that release your anxiety.
Don’t feel like you have to be following minute to minute.
And today’s probably not the day to pick a fight on Facebook would be my best advice really.
16:35
All right, thanks everyone for tuning in.
We will see you back here next week.
All right.
Thanks all.
Thanks for listening to the Be the Bridge Podcast.
To find out more about Be the Bridge and what we offer, visit bethebridge.com.
16:52
Partner with us in this work at bethebridge.com/give, Connect with us on social media, and remember, you are not alone in your pursuit of righteousness and justice.
Latasha Morrison is the executive producer, Sarah Connatser is the producer, and transcripts are done by a wonderful team of volunteers.
17:12
Thanks for listening.
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