I think a lot about how this trip is possible without substantial fear or risk because I'm a white man. I tell many of the people I meet that friends and colleagues back home told me to 'be careful' on the trip. Almost everyone laughs at the thought. They think I live in the dangerous place full of strangers. They know everyone around here and see them all as harmless. Often this discovery - that people in both places see one another as dangerous - opens the door to talking about race and religion. We talk about how few people of color and non-Christians live in these counties. We talk about why that is and, sometimes, what it might be like for someone who feels 'other' to move here. We talk about the way different groups are represented on television and on the news. We talk about the difference between people being nice and feeling like you belong. The more liberal folks I meet talk about the struggle of how to confront biased comments by neighbors and family in a way that helps them see their blindspots without reacting with the anger they feel. What improves the chance of making lasting change instead of simply winning an argument? Some give up. Some persist. It is harder to 'unfriend' the person saying those things in a town of 1000 people you see every day or week. Lives are intertwined inexorably.
There are many thoughts to roll around and unpack about this in the weeks and months after this trip. I will say that I find people willing to engage on these issues - even when they know we likely disagree and even when I point out parts that might be invisible from where they sit. I'm not saying I'm going around managing to transform views, but I do think I see that seemingly closed doors are cracked open in surprising ways. It isn't easy to be patient in the face of real disagreement over fundamental issues of equality. The think what I find most is that people are hungry for information. No matter how many hours of news someone reads or watches, a real person from a real place that is unfamiliar carries the weight of experience in their words. I feel that as I ask about these places. I experience that in the curiosity and questions I hear about my life and those of my friends. I'm an imperfect messenger in nearly every moment. At the same time, I believe strongly that each of us has to use the privilege we have to enter spaces other people can't and engage in uncomfortable ways for things to improve. I've yet to meet a stranger who things people who disagree should talk to one another less. The only real question - and the one I'm trying to understand - is 'how'?
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AuthorScott Illingworth is an Assistant Arts Professor in the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and a freelance theatre director. Archives
July 2017
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