Linked Fate

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Linked Fate Interdependence Reconnecting
Communities Reframing the Dialogue for a
Transformative Agenda john a. powellWilliams
Chair in Civil Rights Civil Liberties, Moritz
College of Law Executive Director, Kirwan
InstituteSeptember 24, 2007
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Connectivity Mutuality

• We are all caught up in an inescapable network
  of mutuality, tied in a single garment of
  destiny. Whatever effects one directly effects
  all indirectly.

-The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Linked FatesTransformative Change

• Our fates are linked, yet our fates have been
  socially constructed as disconnected, especially
  through the categories of class, race, gender,
  nationality, religion

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Our Current Paradigm

• Current paradigm Hobbesian, isolated, radically
  individualistic
• Perceives individuals as autonomous-independent
  selves
• Egoistic, possessive, separate, isolated,
  rational
• Role of state protect individualism and
  individual property

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Our Current Paradigm

• This has led to increasing isolation and fear of
  the other
• This framework creates and marginalizes the
  racialized other
• Creates false separations negates shared
  humanity
• As a result we are a nation divided, and have
  failed to achieve true democracy

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Effects of Current Paradigm on Social Justice
Work

• Within this framework, social justice work
• Overlooks opportunities for coalition building
• Is more fragmented and isolated
• May be competitive and divisive
• Can lead to guilt or disempowerment
• Is not connected to an overarching set of shared
  values
• Lacks a cohesive and
  unified vision!

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• Are we too individualistic or can we transcend
  this disconnectedness?

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A New Paradigm

• Individualism and interconnectivity
  are not mutually excusive
• When a linked correctly, interconnectivity
  supports individuality
• We believe this is possible through collective
  imagination
• A New Paradigm!

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A New Paradigm

• What is the alternative vision?
• A model of connectedness
• Individuals as part of something bigger
• Inter-being, unified, not
  egoistically separate

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A New Paradigm

• Shared Fate
• This has been interpreted by some to be
  synonymous with self-interest
• This is too narrow -- as institutions shift, so
  will individual or group interests
• Need an overarching collective vision of shared
  fate not predicated on
  personal or group-based interests

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Next Steps

• Now that we have this framework of connectedness
  and shared fate, where do we go from here?
• Need to separately consider
• internal analysis
• communication strategy
• programmatic approach

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Next Steps

• Must be explicit about both internal AND external
  communications strategy- these are not always the
  same
• Need to explore ways not only of talking about
  race but also doing around race

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Next Steps Analysis

• Understand your audience their dominant frames
• Different symbols animate different associates
  with different groups
• Need to first understand what that frame means to
  different groups
• Example-
  freedom

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Next Steps Communication Strategy

• Dont rely on highlighting disparities or
  structures alone
• May work best with some groups but not others
• Must connect the individual with the structures-
  tell stories that use the personal to lift up the
  structural
• Grapes of Wrath

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Next Steps Communication Strategy

• This story must activate the correct frame for
  your audience
• Priming- how an individual process information
  depends on the frame that is activated
• Can be explicit or implicit
• Example illegal alien

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Next Steps Programmatic Approach

• Develop and implement solutions that benefit ALL
  members of society
• Linked fate
• Targeted Universalism
• Action- Linked intervention
• Focus on Turning Points
• Multiracial and multiethnic coalitions
• Shared communications strategy

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Concluding Thoughts

• The obstacles we face can seem insurmountable,
  however
• Through a new paradigm and with coalition
  building we can make great strides in addressing
  the race and class disparities in our nation
• Strategic transactional change, can ultimately
  accomplish transformation
• Eyes on the prize(s)
• Remember-
• We Have, and Can Make Progress!

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Save the date
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www.KirwanInstitute.org
Visit Us Online
www.KirwanInstitute.Blogspot.com
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For Further Reading

• Bill Bradley
• The New American Story. (2007).
• Drew Westen
• The Political Brain The Role of Emotion in
  Deciding the Fate of the Nation. (2007).
• George Lakoff
• Whose Freedom? The Battle over America's Most
  Important Idea (2007).
• Thinking Points Communicating Our American
  Values and Vision (2006).
• Don't Think of an Elephant Know Your Values and
  Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for
  Progressives (2004).

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For Further Reading

• Reports Articles
• Thinking Change  Race, Framing, and the Public
  Conversation on Diversity. What  Social Science
  Research Tells Advocates About Winning Support
  for Racial Justice Policies. Available online
  through The Diversity Advancement Project
  http//www.diversityadvancementproject.org/
• John Sterman. (1994). Learning in and about
  complex systems. Systems Dynamics Review. Vol.
  10, nos. 2-3 291-330.
• Online tools
• Harvard Implicit Association Tests.
  https//implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/