Crossover Conversations

foxMight you want to join a team to explore how to engage in mutually beneficial conversations “beyond the choir,” especially with people who have no college degree. Those conversations could be online and/or in person. Team members could brainstorm strategies and compare notes on their efforts.

In response to my Arlie Hochschild and Crossover Issues, which discusses her book, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, on Facebook Steven Shults commented:

It’s good stuff, but it doesn’t address how to overcome the ‘alt right’ echo chamber. … It’s a real dilemma, how do you reach people who are in that echo chamber?

And Melyssa Jo Kelly commented:

SURJ (showingupforracialjustice) has a good strategy — try to go for the low-hanging fruit. For me that means: Focus on reaching white people who you think have potential to become true allies to POC/active anti-racists, and (my words not SURJ’s) fuck wasting breath on hardcore racists.

One possibility would be to post comments on the Fox News website. Another would be to convene face-to-face conversations with specific communities, such as Delancey Street.

 

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