This article explains that white supremacists can feel like they don't know how to get out of their group mindset. That they need a model or an experience to show them the way out.
https://jigsaw.google.com/the-current/white-supremacy/new-perspectives/
Types of experiences:
1- A Life Changing Event, where someone gives them help or shows mercy. (as mentioned in this thread)
2- Seeds of Doubt, where they are shown the humanity of those they hated which calls their prejudices into question.
3- Violence Going Too Far, when they witness violence their stomach turns and helps them leave the movement.
4- Group Hypocrisy, essentially witnessing "no honor among thieves" and feeling wronged.
This helps us know how the cycle is broken and perhaps we will get a chance to model # 1 or 2. Life is for learning and raising our consciousness through understanding and actions. It's such a privilege to meditate with this group to effect a rise in consciousness for myself and all others!
Your post reminded me of a quote I just read by Rev. C.T. Vivian, who had been Martin Luther King's field general: "When you ask people to give up hate, you have to be there for them when they do."
Although the attached article doesn't deal with collective trauma, I felt it was related and addresses how we view those who seem very different from us. The article is about Professor Loretta Ross, a Black feminist, activist and scholar who is concerned about the pervasiveness of the callout culture in our society, especially expressed through social media. She now teaches a course on "Calling in the Calling Out Culture." I saw Dr. Ross interviewed this morning on that topic. Fascinating woman.
To quote from the article:
"You can't be responsible for someone else's inability to grow," Professor Ross said. "So take comfort in the fact that you offered a new perspective of information and you did so with love and respect, and you walk away.
We have a saying in the movement: Some people you can work with and some people you can work around. But the thing that I want to emphasize is that the calling-in practice means you always keep a seat at the table for them if they come back."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/style/loretta-ross-smith-college-cancel-culture.html
One thing that has always bugged me, is when people try to justify the horrible practices and behaviors of the past by claiming that "that's just how it was back then", or "that's all they knew to do in those days". Well, i call bullshit. There have ALWAYS been folks that were hipped to the facts. And though they may not have been in power, or even popular, their existence alone proves that there was clearly a choice of which path to take.
Please listen to this version of "My Country 'Tis of Thee", with alternate, Abolitionist lyrics that were written in 1843. Also it is performed in a Minor key, but with some major chills:
Just listening to this song now. Wow. So moving. And @unk-p, you got me laughing when you wrote, "Well, I call bullshit." Love you, my friend.
@deetoo, I love the ideas you posted from Loretta Ross. I loved this paragraph especially which is about not shaming or calling out people who have done something you think is wrong, but rather taking the time to befriend them first, and then, if there is an opening, helping to clear up the problem.
"She doesn’t believe people should be publicly shamed for accidentally misgendering a classmate, which she once did, leading to a Title IX complaint that was later dismissed; for sending a stupid tweet they now regret; or for, say, admitting they once liked a piece of pop culture now viewed in a different light, such as “The Cosby Show.'"
For those of you having trouble moving beyond others' support of Trumpism, this might help you to understand it a little better.
Since that article has a paywall, there are other ways to hear her perspective. She went on tour back in 2016 to promote her book about the Tea Party right, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. The book is based on her interviews with radical right Trump supporters in Louisiana. She feels people should listen to them, understand what is at the root of their grievances, even though we wouldn't agree with their views, before we can reconcile our differences.
https://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledge_detail/how-to-fix-democracy-with-arlie-hochschild-s2e18/
Thanks for this excellent link to the 21 minute video with Arlie Hochschild that @mas1581 first mentioned. I feel for people who are afraid for their futures. I understand where they are coming from. I don't excuse the people in authority who feed on these fears and ramp up a narrative that keeps people enraged. This is why we continue to send light.
@mas1581 I am grateful to you for finding Arlie Hochschild's work. She specializes in the concept of emotional sociology - which fits what we do here, which is to understand group emotion or the emotional issues of a whole collective of people. It drives democracies, wars, the trauma and healing of an entire people. Interesting that she was doing this work in 2016 and her book was published right before Trump took office.