May 2025
Dear friends,
Listen. Foster trusting relationships. Build consensus. These are the guiding practices that were first ingrained in me as a Peace Corps Volunteer working in Nicaragua and later as I trained to be a health researcher using a community-based participatory research approach. Now, I teach the next generation of students these same practices and try to follow them in my own work. When I think about making a better world possible, these practices feel vital.
One of the leading proponents and practitioners of this approach is Ella Greene-Moton, a community leader from Flint, MI, who has become the first non-academic to lead the American Public Health Association. I had the opportunity to hear Ms. Greene-Moton speak this past September, and a cartoon she shared (similar to the one seen above) has been lodged in my head ever since. She has worked for decades creating equitable partnerships across diverse groups and partners to improve the health of communities. She showed the cartoon in her slides to emphasize the importance of understanding other people’s perspectives for working together. Just because you are right, does not mean the other person is wrong.
I think about this now—in this moment—because of the solidarity and collective action that is vital to making a better world possible. It can feel like the world is burning down and critical institutions are collapsing. We need to protect life-giving resources from being eliminated and ultimately build upon them to get to the future we deserve. But the collective action required to do that work cannot be built upon a foundation of shouting “IT’S A NINE!” until you are hoarse.
True solidarity and collective action are anchored in listening, fostering trusting relationships, and building consensus. As hard as it sometimes feels, it will mean talking to the “IT’S A SIX!” folks and better understanding each other and finding commonalities. The forces powering the destruction at the national level are massive, which means we have to build movements that are massive enough to counteract them. It can be hard to engage across differences, but conflict and tension can be productive for building stronger social movements. These movements will be larger and more powerful when we make room for differing perspectives and do the work to welcome people into a vision for a brighter future. This is true for change we want to make at the national or global level, but also for change we want to make in our own communities and local institutions. The challenge before us is large, but we can make a better world possible by leaning into these practices: Listen. Foster trusting relationships. Build consensus.
Take care and foster trusting relationships, Paul
Today’s Key Point: Making a better world possible will require listening, fostering trusting relationships, and building consensus with people whose perspective differs from our own.
Today’s Reflection Questions:
Who in your network has differing perspectives, and how could you engage in dialogue to better understand each other?
Who are you viewing as ‘the opposition’ that could possibly be an ally in your work if you built a trusting relationship with them and identified common goals?
Who are some unlikely allies for your efforts to make a better world? How could you connect with them and invite them into your work? What disagreement(s) would you need to work through?
Quote of the Month:
“Learning to stand in somebody else’s shoes, to see through their eyes, that’s how peace begins. And it’s up to you to make that happen. Empathy is a quality of character that can change the world.” —Barack Obama
Inspired reading/listening/viewing:
Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel, book by Loretta J. Ross
How to talk to people you’d rather hate w/ Loretta Ross, Pulling the Thread Podcast
Resources from Program on Intergroup Relations:
4 Key Ways to Build Social Justice Movements, by Yotam Marom