Divided

When we’re dealing with division such as race, black lives matter, refugees and immigration it can be better to speak about what we believe we are and aspire to be. Simply confronting people only is likely to be less effective.

An election piece from Minnesota (USA) demonstrates this wonderfully well. It argues “we are greater than fear”

In 2016, Clinton’s slim victory (in the state) was seen as:

An opportunity to gain ground with… racially coded, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic appeals. Yet in 2018, progressives in the state not only stalled these efforts, they won across races, defining what it means to be “Minnesotan” through an aspirational narrative of multi-racial populism.

36 second video here>

We are greater than fear

We are greater than fear, says the advert:

Together, we can make Minnesota a place where freedom and community are for everyone, no exceptions.

It continues:

In Minnesota, we have each others’ backs. We dig each other out of the snow. We help out our neighbors. For this to be a place of freedom for all, we cannot let the greedy few and the politicians they pay for divide us against each other based on what someone looks like or how much money they have. But they’re wrong about us. We’re better than that. We’re #greaterthanfear. Because we know that in Minnesota, we’re better off together. … Together, we can make this a place where freedom and community are for everyone, no exceptions.

It is a wonderful example of a story that works, effective from appealing to our better natures and aspirations. Avoiding further entrenching division, polarities and stuck thinking patterns.

Video here>