The 21st annual Environmental Affairs Symposium was themed around crossing boundaries in order to facilitate a progressive and productive dialog between groups that traditionally do not get along. The keynote speaker for this event was Daryl Davis. Davis is a Grammy award winning pianist but is most recently in the news for befriending members of the Klu Klux Klan. As an African American, Davis believes that most members of the KKK hold the beliefs that they do because they have little to no experience with members of the African American community. Davis befriends members of the KKK and has successfully converted around 200 members of the KKK to leave the Klan. While he has had great success with his efforts to convert Klan members, he still receives a large amount of criticism for his action. The main idea behind the criticism that Davis faces is that many feel that Davis should not be providing these kinds of people platforms to spread their ideologies because they are so outlandishly disgusting. Davis feels that while this criticism is valid the only way to effectively change the way these kinds of people feel is to open a healthy and productive dialog with them.
This can be linked to what we do in ENVS 220 because it goes to show how effective crossing boundaries can be. After hearing Davis speak, reaching across the aisle to engage with those who hold different views about the environment than myself seems much more reasonable. I definitely believe that this feeling was the desired result for getting Davis to speak at the Symposium. If Davis can find common ground with members of the Klan and work with them to respectfully challenge their beliefs and understandings in such an effective manner then I feel like I could use that lesson to better communicate in disagreements about the environment. Another key aspect that Davis referenced in his talk that I found important was the idea of having a mutual respect for the person you are trying to. Davis asserted that if you don’t approach these types of situations from a place of respect for the other party then your ability to have a healthy discussion will be largely impaired. Additionally, the lack of respect for the other party inhibits your ability to fully empathize with your opposition. If you approach a situation or conversation in a confrontational or aggressive manner the other person is much less likely to want to engage with you or even engage at all. The main takeaways that I got from Daryl Davis’ speech at the Symposium were that preaching to the choir is not an effective method of engagement and does little to nothing to generate dialog or change. Also, approaching conversations or interactions with individuals of opposing viewpoints must be done in a respectful manner as not to invoke a fight or flight response. Lastly, one must go out of their comfort zone in order to actively facilitate change and change peoples minds about issues. It is not the easiest thing to do but it must be done to create change and move forward as a society.
2 Comments
10/7/2022 06:47:34 am
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10/7/2022 08:37:50 am
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