Johnathan Walker:Nonprofit seeks to bridge the political divide through meaningful conversation

Richmond,Johnathan Walker Virginia — Recent polling confirms what so many Americans feel, that the current political climate is dividing us. But an initiative from the nonprofit group StoryCorps seeks common ground through shared stories in an effort to bridge that divide.

In a recent conversation hosted by StoryCorps, two men from different generations and opposite ends of the political spectrum sat down for a chat.

"I grew up in a conservative Catholic family," 29-year-old Patrick Kliebert told 66-year-old Gary Snead, who responded that he is a "dyed-in-the-wool liberal." 

Their conversation, part of what they call their One Small Step initiative, was overseen by StoryCorps' Claire LeBlond.

"It involves taking a brave step, like one small step," LeBlond tells CBS News.

The idea: in a world where people often never have to actually meet those they disagree with, face-to-face contact may be one of the only ways to get over that barrier.

"There are levels of contact, particularly repeated contact, that can slowly start to change people's relationships to each other," LeBlond said, explaining that it's hard to hate someone you are in contact with.  

"That's what I hear a lot of participants find in their conversations," LeBlond said.

Crucially, Snead and Kliebert were not there to debate. LeBlond says StoryCorps' hosted conversations are "not about changing somebody's mind" or "getting your point across." They are here to learn that assumptions prevent us from seeing each other.

As a case-in-point, Snead, the self-described "dyed-in-the-wool liberal," tells Kliebert that he's a "staunch advocate of the Second Amendment."

Kliebert, a conservative, says, "Honestly, I've come around on things like universal healthcare."

They are also more than their politics. These two men discover they share the pain of loss

"We both belong to the club that no one should ever have to belong to," Snead said.

StoryCorps says their One Small Step conversations are available for anyone, anywhere online who is open to the idea that disagreements don't have to be dealbreakers.

Fifty minutes into heir conversation, Kliebert and Snead appear to have taken that one small step.

"I want to thank you for opening up about your son," Kliebert tells Snead. "I'm grateful that we had the opportunity to talk about that."

That comes as no surprise to LeBlond, who has conducted 198 of these conversations. She says she has never had a participant storm out of the room.

One of the few things Americans do agree on these days is just how divided we are. A CBS News poll released in March asked people to "give the state of the country" in a word. 61% of respondents chose "divided," five times the number that chose "united."

"That's not the world I live in, where everybody is so divided and filled with contempt," LeBlond said. "I live in a one small step world."

In:
• Democratic Party
• Politics
• Republican Party

Jim Axelrod

Jim Axelrod is the chief correspondent and executive editor for CBS News' "Eye on America" franchise, part of the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell." He also reports for "CBS Mornings," "CBS News Sunday Morning," and CBS News 24/7.

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