Exploring Diverse Ideas and People in a Global Society

For the exploring diverse ideas and people category of my PDP project, on Wednesday, November 11th, 2020, I participated in the Office of Diversity Education’s Conversations that Matter Post Election Dialogue: Where Do We Go Next?

The 2020 presidential election was the first presidential election in which I had the right to vote in. Because of this, I wanted to involve myself in as much as I could surrounding the election in order to increase my education on the candidates and background knowledge on the process. I participated in a PDP event in which I learned a great deal regarding voter suppression, and I also planned to be an election inspector on Tuesday, November 3rd, however, this opportunity ended up falling through. By signing up for this event, I felt it would be a great ending conversation to have in wrapping up the recent events of the election, and piece together my thoughts from everything new I have learned about the presidential election process over the past year. I also thought it would be a great way to engage with people that have different viewpoints and opinions than me, and give ourselves an opportunity to listen and understand these different viewpoints and opinions in an effort to bring people back together, as the nation has become so polarized in recent times. Coming back together is one of the most dire needs our country is facing at the moment, as hatred is fueling further separation of groups across the nation, which could lead to detrimental effects if not addressed soon. 

Parveeza Gala, Karen Arthur, and Stan Shingles hosted the event for the Office of Diversity Education. Stan introduced a guest speaker, David Rutledge, who started off the events of the evening. He spoke for about forty-five minutes about all different topics surrounding the election. Some of the major things he talked about was the electoral college and specific Michigan politics. After hearing from Mr. Rutledge, we were broken up into smaller breakout rooms so we could have more personalized conversations regarding the election. I was in a group of five people that consisted of Central Michigan employees and students. We were given three questions to start off our conversations. The first question regarded what core values we believed all American shared and agreed upon, despite the exaggerated polarization our country has seen, and whether or not we thought there were common ground solutions that were possible to reach in the coming future. When discussing these questions, we agreed that all Americans want to be heard and want their opinions to have value, and that the solution to our polarization is being willing to listen and understand each others’ differing viewpoints. However, we also said that this solution would take quite some time to reach. Our second question went over our own personal experiences with people who have differing viewpoints than ourselves. People in my group shared personal stories regarding their hurtful experiences with loved ones who share drastically different opinions than they do, and how this has affected their relationships. The last question regarded President-Elect Biden’s victory speech, in which he said he will treat states as the United States rather than seeing blue and red states. We discussed how we felt about this statement, and the overall consensus was that different groups come from different backgrounds, and because of this, deserve to be treated differently and respected for their past endurings. We ended our meeting by coming back together as a whole group and talking about some of the main points each group reached in their individual conversations. 

I believe that this event was a perfect example of what all Americans need to be doing right now right after a heated election: taking time to settle down and listen to what other people different from you have to say. It is more important now than ever that we take time to understand what people have to say in a respectful manner, as this is the only way we will begin to come back together as a nation and heal all the hatred that has grown from this election. I really valued the time I spent listening to other people’s personal opinions and experiences regarding this election, as I found it especially shocking to hear some of the stories people felt comfortable sharing, and how these experiences differed greatly from anything I have had to endure myself. I was also blindsided by the fact that some people shared their fear from a lack of hope that our country can ever heal itself and regroup. I have never considered this, that we have possibly reached a “point of no return” and that some people fear that no solution will be able to be met. This is very different from my hopeful opinion that my generation will be able to bring the country back to where it needs to be in treating others with kindness and understanding. Even though I found myself disagreeing with some points being made throughout the conversation, I found it very informational to hear from people different than me and take a step towards understanding all the different viewpoints Americans share throughout our country.